Pirate in Paris (Re-posted)
by Boendal
Summary: After getting back from Bermuda Triangle Zak Storm moves to Paris, however he quickly finds out that wherever he goes, supernatural will always find him. Luckily he didn't break the curse of Bermuda Triangle for nothing and he is ready to face the dangers of Paris. (Re-posted it to crossover section.)
1. Chapter 1

**Hi guys, I'm not dead! I will be moving to a new type of posting where I will write the complete story and then post it. This was intended to be a simple two-shot but the second chapter turned out a bit too long, so I decided to chop it up into smaller chapters. Please tell me if you would like to see more of this story. It is finished but i do have some ideas in mind on how to continue this plot line and if I do I might add some side characters from other franchises, so be warned and enjoy.**

Fifteen year old Zak was packing his bags. He was in his room which was mostly empty. He and his father were moving to Paris. Why you ask? That's a very interesting, although somewhat sad, story. He managed to return home from Bermuda Triangle about three month ago. He and his team didn't only leave the triangle, they destroyed it. No one died if that's what you are thinking about. Every single person in the triangle returned home, at least that's what Sassafras told them would happen. He really wondered what happened to Zephyra. Zak hoped that she was alright. Obviously, such an event led to another sad thing. He had to part ways with his friends and chances are that he will never see them again. Only now he understood how diverse their team was. They were from different dimensions, times and epochs! Gathering together once again would be a miracle.

However Zak's problems didn't end there. Once he returned home and told everything to his parents, his mother didn't take it well. She did believe it alright. However she refused to continue living near the Bermuda Triangle in fear that if the damn thing didn't disappear, it would snatch her husband and son again. Zak and his father tried to convince her against such idea, however a week ago she announced that they were moving to Paris, to her sister Caline Bustier. Aunt Caline was a very kind woman and allowed them to stay with her until they would find jobs and manage to rent their own place. She even made sure to enroll Zak into the school in which she was a teacher. That was very kind of her, however Zak would've preferred to stay here, near the sea to which he created such a solid connection.

It wasn't only because of his surfing, this sea made him stronger, better, it led him to so many amazing adventures and it was the reason he met all of his friends. Another interesting thing he understood after coming back home. He had no friends here. He always had his father by his side and usually that was enough, but not after his adventure in the Bermuda Triangle.

Zak put his last belongings into a bag and took one last look at his room. It felt so empty, especially compared to Chaos. He let out a sigh, grabbed his bad and left the room. His parents were already standing near a ship which would take them to the shore, since they were living on an island, from which they would get to the airport. Their things were already there. Zak placed his bag at the ship's deck and went to his parents. His mother gave him a sympathetic smile. She did understand that her son would miss the sea, not enough to let them stay here, but still. He smiled back, albeit, weakly. The ship started moving. Zak was standing at the back of it, staring at the retreating island that was his home for such a long time.

Zak was staring at the window as they were driving through Paris on a taxi. They spent the last 24 hours traveling. He couldn't fall asleep on the plane and now he was tired. They were driving behind a car that had their belongings and furniture. Usually he would be excited to see new places, even if it meant that he would see the sea only once in a while. Damn, back to the sad thoughts.

"Hey, honey, we just need get past the last obstacle, getting out things out of the car and then you will get some much needed sleep" said Zak's mother with a smile and ruffled her son's hair. He chuckled. "I know mom".

Finally they got to Caline's apartment. She was already waiting for them. Zak and his parents got out of the taxi and went to the car with their belongings. Caline walked over to Zak and pulled him into a hug. "I missed you Zak, you really should visit your aunt more".

"You will grow tired of me quite quickly" said the boy with a tired smile. "I doubt that."

After they finished moving their stuff into Caline's apartment, Zak collapsed onto the couch and fell asleep. His aunt smiled at him and put a blanket over him. Then she went to her sister and gave her a tight hug, which was returned. "So, will you explain why you decided to move to Paris so suddenly?"

"Oh, it's a very long, complicated and unbelievable story. Let's talk about it tomorrow evening with tea and lots of cookies."

"Sure sis."

Zak felt someone shaking his shoulder. He pulled the blanket over his head and rolled onto another side. However whoever decided to interrupt Zak's sleep wasn't about to give up. The person shook him again. The boy let out a groan and opened his eyes. He wanted to shut them immediately as light hit his eyes, hurting them. The next thing he saw was the smiling face of his aunt. "Wake up Zak or we will be late for school."

Zak let out a sigh and got out of bed. He found a schoolbag near his feet. "I prepared everything you need for today. Grab a toast and let's go." Zak nodded, drowsy and went to the kitchen. He grabbed two toasts, gulped them down and followed his aunt to the door. Together they left the flat.

On their way to school Caline decided to start a conversation. "So, Zak, why did you decide to move to Paris?"

"Mom didn't tell you?"

"No she wanted to talk about it during the evening, but I am curious."

"Well that's a story that you probably won't believe me."

"Try me. There are a lot of weird things happening here in Paris."

"I am pretty sure that they aren't on my level of weird."

"As I said, try me."

"Well, okay, ready?"

"Yep."

"I got sucked into the Bermuda Triangle which turned out to be a dimension that consisted out of seven seas. There I became a captain of a pirate crew that consisted out of a Viking warrior, atlantean princess, alien, living sword, ghost and a living pirate ship. We managed to lift the curse of the Bermuda Triangle and all went back home, destroying the dimension. Our mother didn't want to live near such place and decided that we should move. There, that's the shortened version."

After Zak finished his story he looked at his aunt, expecting a skeptical look. However she was holding her chin, seemingly in thought. "Was that atlantean princess pretty?"

Zak gave her a confused look. "After hearing that story, is that the first thing you want to ask me about."

"Well, yes, that would be so romantic. So, was she?"

"Yes, she was awesome… However I won't see her again."

"Oh, isn't there a way to…"

"I don't know… Say, auntie Caline, do you actually believe me?"

"Well, I have to admit that it is quite weirder than anything I witnessed, but, I've seen some weird things. I'm sure your classmates will fill you in on the weirdness of Paris." said the woman with a wink. Zak gave her a questioning look, but decided not to ask her about it. He was pretty sure that there wasn't anything in Paris that could surprise him.

Soon enough they arrived at the school. It was your usual school. Everything seemed so mundane for Zak after his adventure, but he had to get back to being used to this. He and his aunt entered the school and Caline led him to the class. Once they entered the room, the students stopped talking. They greeted Caline and looked at Zak with questioning looks. The former pirate felt uneasy from all their stares. His aunt led him to the middle of the classroom.

"Class, meet your new classmate, Conrad Zachary Storm, but you can call him Zak."

The boy waved at the class. The class waved back with smiles. "Now, where you should seat…" said the teacher as she observed the classroom. She saw an empty place, however she had to surpass a shudder. Sabrina was absent due to sickness, so the only free place was beside Chloe. Well, she hoped that Zak had enough patience to seat with the blonde. "Zak, seat with Chloe, the blonde girl in yellow."

Marrinete looked at Zak with horror. It was true that Chloe had an empty space beside her, but there was plenty of space here, with her and Alya. Now the poor guy had to put up with Chloe Bourgeois for the whole lesson. Poor guy.

"Maybe we can save him after this lesson" said Alya with a wink. "Yeah, we will definitely try" said the girl with determination. Alya giggled at her. Now Marinete gave the new boy a better look. He looked fine, not godly handsome like Adrien, but nice enough. He had this peculiar thing on his head that almost looked like an eye patch. She had to ask him about it during the break. However there was something about this boy that left Marinette feeling uneasy. She couldn't understand what it was. There was just something that made her clutch the purse with Tikki tighter. She didn't understand it. She was always friendly to newcomers. Why was she so… suspicious about this boy?

Maybe it had something to do with her being Ladybug? A weird idea, but she would ask Tikki about it later.

Adrien followed the new boy with his eyes as his fist clenched. Once he understood what he was doing, he unclenched it as if he got burned by something. What was it just now? There was some strange… aggression in him towards this boy and he didn't understand where it came from. He looked at his ring and then at this new boy. He clenched his fist again for a reason unknown to him. What the heck? Maybe he was jealous of the fact that he was seating with Chloe… nah, impossible. However this was definitely weird, in an unsettling way.

Zak took a seat near the blonde in yellow. "Hi, I'm Zak"

"I'm Chloe Bourgeois, don't get used to my company. I am a daughter of our mayor, I don't seat with low lives like you."

"Aha, I see" said Zak. Great, he got the mean girl. "What is that thing on your head anyway. Are you trying to look like a pirate?" said the girl in a mocking voice. "Oh, you mean my camera?"

"That's a camera? Why in the world you would have it on your head? That is so lame."

"Well, when I surf I need both of my hands, so a camera on the head helps in that regard."

"You are a surfer?" asked Chloe with wide eyes. "Yes, I am. I used to surf every day back when I was living on the Bermudas."

"You lived in Bermuda Triangle?!" exclaimed the girl. "Chloe, please keep quiet. I understand that you want to learn more about your classmate, but leave that until the break or keep it quiet."

The blonde nodded. "Soo, have you seen the kraken? Traveled in time? Seen an underwater crystal pyramid?"

"Uh, yes, kind of, no" said Zak. Chloe gave him a look that he couldn't read. "You are lying to me."

"No I am not."

"You are just trying to get my attention. If you want my opinion, you did badly."

"Nah, I wasn't asking for your opinion, but suit yourself." Yeah, he probably shouldn't talk about Bermuda Triangle unless he wanted to be deemed a madman or a liar. The first half of the lesson was uneventful. Zak listened to aunt Caline. It was poetry and Zak couldn't say that he was too interested in the subject. His neighbor seemed to share his enthusiasm or more like the lack of it. Chloe took out her phone and was scrolling through something.

Zak checked weather aunt Caline was looking. She was writing something on the blackboard. He scooted over to the blonde and looked at what she was reading. There was a writing 'Ladyblog' in the top right corner. The site design was reminiscent of ladybug with a bunch of black dots on red background. There were pictures with two people. They were dressed in something that resembled superhero suits. There was a girl with dark hair and pigtails dressed in ladybug-colored suit and there was a blonde boy who seemed to be wearing a black cat suit made out of leather. He looked at the two for a few seconds and his eyes widened for a moment. There was a girl in the class that definitely resembled this superhero. He turned his head to find the girl. He spotted her near a brown haired girl. She definitely looked like that superhero. Or did she?

Somehow Zak couldn't remember how that super heroine looked. He looked back at Chloe's phone. Once he turned away the image of the ladybug-suit girl became foggy. He couldn't even remember her hair color. It was so clear moments ago. He took one more look, but once again, as soon as he turned away, he couldn't remember how the girl looked. It was weird. Maybe… it was magic or something. "Who are these people?" Zak whispered to Chloe. She gave him a bewildered. "You don't know about Ladybug and Cat Noir. Were you living under a rock of something?" whispered the girl back.

"No, only in the Bermuda Triangle. So, who are they?"

"They are superheroes of Paris and I am number one fan of Ladybug. We are best friends" said the girl with awfully smug expression. It really highlighted the abundance of makeup on her face. She would probably look prettier if she had a little bit less of it on her. Zak looked at the superheroes, primarily the one in ladybug suit that the boy guessed was calling herself, well, Ladybug. Then he looked at Chloe. "Yeah, seems tough to believe"

"What?!"

"Chloe, please keep quiet"

The girl dropped her voice to a whisper. "I am her fan and best friend."

"I believe the first part, but not the second"

"Are you saying I'm a liar?"

"Ah, weeell…"

"How dare you" whispered the blonde, her voice dripping with anger. Zak gave her an apologetic smile that usually worked on Cece. "Calm down Chlo, I am just kidding."

The girl let out a huff and returned to scrolling through her phone. "What they usually do?" asked the boy. He was curious about these superheroes. "They save Paris, idiot. People get turned into villains and they defeat them. Isn't that obvious?"

"Uhm, no not really" said the boy with a smile. Chloe gave him a confused look. However it was different compared to the previous one.

Chloe looked at the new boy with a confused look. How was he taking her comments so well? Maybe she could make… another 'slave' out of him, like Sabrina. Then almost sinister smile spread across Chloe's lips.

"Saaay, Zak, could you put notes for me?" asked the girl as she offered him her most innocent smile, or at least she thought that it was innocent. "Good try Chlo, but no. I'm a lazy student as well" said the boy with a smile. Chloe's brow twitched. Damn, he was smarter than she thought.

Soon enough the bell rang. Caline gave them their home tasks and left. They would see her again at the end of the school day.

Chloe gave Zak another look. Maybe she could try something else to get him to do her work. "Hey, want to find out something awesome?"

"Well, yeah, I guess"

"Follow me" said Chloe as she left the classroom with Zak behind her.

Marinette and Alya were staring at the two with wide eyes. "Did the new guy just left with Chloe?" asked the brown haired girl with bewildered tone. "Maybe she bribed him or something" suggested Nino. "Guys, don't be so hard on Chloe. Maybe he can put up with her and that's all" said Adrien. Marinette, Alya and Nino looked at him as if he grew a third head. "What, Chloe is not that bad." His three friends looked at each other and then at the blonde boy. "Yes, she is" came their response in unison. Adrien sighed in defeat.

Meanwhile Chloe and Zak were standing outside the class as the blonde was scrolling through the Ladyblog. She was looking for something in particular. "Where is it? Where is it? Ah, here it is."

She showed Zak her phone in which was a picture of a bee-themed superhero. It was girl with blonde hair tied into a ponytail with a black streak in it. She looked like Chloe, but once the boy looked at her, the thought disappeared strangely.

"This is me as a superhero. I am Queen Bee and I helped Ladybug deal with super villains and I was so helpful, much more helpful than this black stray cat."

Chloe looked at the boy, expecting awe and amazement. Instead he was looking at her and at the phone with a confused expression. "What?! You don't believe me?! Fine, here"

Chloe scrolled up and played a video. It showed her transforming into this superhero. That sure was a proof that it was Chloe, but as soon as transformation was finished, he couldn't recognize Chloe in it. Suddenly his head started to hurt, to the point that his vision got blurry and he had to lean onto a wall for support.

"What, so amazed that you were seating together with a superhero?" said the blonde with a smug smile. Zak shook his head and the pain seemed to go away. "No, it's not that. Listen, Chloe, do you have a mirror or something?"

"Yes, I do" said the girl with a confused voice as she put a hand into her purse and took out a hand mirror. "Why do you need it?"

"Can you please look at yourself and well, yourself in the suit and tell me. Do you see yourself in that suit?"

"How dare you?! I just showed you the video, the picture! How can you not believe…"

"No, no, no Chloe. You got me wrong. Look at yourself and at the super heroine. Do you recognize yourself there?"

"You don't make any sense. Of course I recog…"

Chloe had to double check herself in the mirror. She looked at herself as Queen Bee and then at her reflection. She couldn't recognize herself in the suit. She knew that it was her, but as soon as she looked away from the photo, her memory got foggy.

"This doesn't make any sense. I know it's me, but, but…"

"Once you look away from the photo the memory gets foggy?"

"Yes" said Chloe with unsure voice. "How did you become a superhero?"

"Well, I received this comb from Ladybug, that by the way looked very good on me and inside of it was this small yellow creature, Pollen. It transformed me into the superhero."

"Was it magic?"

"I don't know, maybe."

Zak put a finger to his chin as he leaned onto a wall. "Maybe it is some sort of magic that is meant to keep your identity a secret? I mean, it doesn't change your appearance too much. I think. Agh, it really messes with my head."

Chloe looked at the picture of Queen Bee once again. She was about to say something, but the bell rang and the teens had to get back to the class.

Meanwhile a man was standing at the office of his boss. He was having a very unpleasant conversation. "You can't fire me! I've been working as a firefighter for ten years."

"I know, John, but you are reckless and you disobey orders."

"I am doing my job!"

"You are putting your colleagues and civilians in danger!"

"They were getting in my way."

"You punched Jack when he was setting up the hydrant."

"He was wasting time. I could've set it up two times as fast."

"You broke his jaw."

"He should've done his job better."

"What about that time when you threw a kid out of a window? You didn't even check whether a trampoline was set up!"

"Everything ended fine."

"But it could've ended badly. John, I appreciate your work and effort, but you cause trouble more than you do good. Now, get out!"

John gritted his teeth and walked out of the office. He left the station, but not without kicking a wall a few times.

Of course his anger didn't go unnoticed by a certain miraculous holder. Hawk Moth smiled a sinister smile. "What can be more infuriating then a well done job that wasn't acknowledged? You fought fire for a decade, saving the ungrateful citizens of Paris."

The man extended his arm and a butterfly flew onto his palm. He covered it with his other hand and the insect absorbed dark power. "Fly away my little akuma and evilize him."

The black butterfly flew through the streets of Paris, quickly locating the man it needed. The butterfly flew into man's jacket and it turned black. "Firecracker, I am Hawk Moth. I grant you the power of the thing that you have been fighting for so long. Show Paris the true power of fire."

"Yes, Hawk Moth." The man stood up as his appearance changed. His hair turned red and started burning. His body got covered in bright orange suit that resembled firefighter's uniform. However his right arm was made out of metal with a hole in the palm. A thick wire was attached to it and was going all the way to a pair of containers on his back.

"In exchange for this power, bring me the miraculouses of Ladybug and Cat Noir."

"Will do, Hawk Moth."

The newly akumatised man let out a mad laugh and pointed his metallic arm at a nearby building. Flames erupted from the hole and the target building got caught on fire. "Yes. Fire, fire, burn everything. Reduce everything to ashes!"

Firecracker leaped through the city, setting everything on fire.

Caline decided to visit her nephew after his second lesson. She was really interested in the fact, whether he managed to make any friends. However even more interesting was the fact, whether he, somehow, managed to befriend Chloe. It seemed like he was quite friendly with her after the first lesson. Maybe he could become her friend, a true friend.

Once she entered the classroom she saw Zak seating with Chloe, showing her something on her phone. Strangely enough, Chloe was interested in whatever Zak was showing her. The remaining class seemed to be just as surprised about this as she was. The woman walked over to them and took a peak. They were watching a recording of Zak's surfing. She got noticed.

"Oh, aunt Caline, did you want anything?"

"Aunt Caline?!" exclaimed the class. "Oh, I forgot to tell you. Zak is my nephew" said the woman with a smile. The class let out sounds of shock. "Guys, it's not a big deal" said Zak with an awkward smile. "So, how's your day so far?"

"Fine for the most part. Chloe let me log into my account and show her some of my surfing videos."

"Oh, that's awfully nice of Chloe"

"What? No it's not!" yelled Chloe. The woman chuckled at her reaction. "Have you talked to anyone else in the class?"

"No, not yet, but we have all the school day to communicate, so I doubt that things would stay like that for long" said Zak with a smile. However it disappeared almost immediately. He put a hand under the table and flung it at the window. There was an explosion and lots of fire. "Everyone, get out of the classroom!" yelled Zak.

Marinette looked at the destroyed table that was now on fire. There was another explosion and the wall got destroyed. Now she could see the one that was behind this. The person looked like a firefighter in orange and his hair was on fire. He was akumatised. She had to transform somewhere, but first she had to make sure that everyone got out of here. However she didn't need to put much effort into that. Her classmates were already running out of the class. Ms. Caline was making sure that students didn't crush each other. Adrien was helping with that. He was so brave. But, no time for fangirling, she had to deal with the akumatised person. This one was definitely a dangerous individual.

The villain was throwing fireballs at the school. The students really got lucky that none of them hit their classroom so far.

Almost everyone got out of the classroom except for Zak and Ms. Caline. Marinette was already out of the classroom. She was sure that Ms. Caline and the newcomer would follow immediately after. She turned around to confirm her guess and her eyes got wide with horror.

Caline made sure that everyone got out. Zak was the only one left. Together they dashed out of the classroom. However she tripped and fell. She looked at the hole in the wall and saw a fire wave coming her way. She closed her eyes, expecting the end.

However heat never came. No. It became hot, but she wasn't getting burned. The woman opened her eyes and was shocked. Zak was standing in front of her, holding down the flames, literally. He held his hands in front of him, somehow blocking the fire. The flames lashed out, trying to get past the boy, but to no avail. Then Zak tore through the fireball, the flames split and flew to the sides.

Everyone had their mouth's a gap. Now they had clear vision of Zak. He had a pair of dark red clawed gauntlets on his arms that seemed to appear out of nowhere.

"No one hurts my friends or family" said Zak as he pointed his clawed finger at the man that attacked them. He was standing on a fire pillar. He threw another fireball at the boy. Zak slapped it away.

Marinette was watching the scene with awe and horror. There was something in this scene that was making her terrified. It wasn't the fact that her teacher could've died. No, she seemed quite safe behind her nephew. These gauntlets, this power that was leaking out of him, it was making her clutch the purse with Tikki tighter. No, this wasn't the time to worry about this. She had to find a place to transform. She ran behind nearest corner and made sure that no one was here. "Tikki, spots on"

Marinette transformed and ran towards the commotion.

Zak walked towards the man that attacked the school. "Aunt Caline, please get to safety. Leave this one to me."

There was another side effect to destroying the triangle. The one who lifted its curse becomes the embodiment of the triangle. Everything that was within the triangle became a part of him, including the powers of Calabrass. He had access to the attributes of the seven seas. However since Calabrass was gone, Zak had complete control over what he created.

Zak extended his arm and a flaming cutlass appeared in his hand. With that he charged forward. The enemy launched another attack at the boy. Zak sliced the flames in half. He jumped out of the school and delivered a cut to the man's head with the blunt side of the sword. The man got hit on the head and stumbled backwards.

Firecracker regained his composure and launched a flaming wave at the boy. This time Zak didn't even bother with blocking the attack. The flames engulfed him and Firecracker smirked victoriously. However the smile soon left him as the flames settled. The boy was unscratched.

"Sorry, but while I have Eye of Blazz, I am invincible to fire and heat."

"You little. How will you handle this?!"

The man slammed his hands at the ground. The ground became lava and engulfed Zak. The boy walked out of it just fine. He dusted his shirt, wiping droplets of lava from it.

Suddenly something red and round hit the man on the head. Then he got hit with a stick. Suddenly Zak found himself in between two superheroes.

Adrien delivered a strike on villains head and jumped away, standing near the new guy. For some reason he had this burning desire to attack him and not the akumatised villain.

"We appreciate your help, citizen, but you should leave now. This is a job for superheroes" said Ladybug without turning away from the Firecracker. He was too dangerous to leave unwatched. "Nah, I'm good" said the brown haired boy as he walked forward, towards the opponent.

"Please, we don't want you to get hurt."

"Don't worry, if he can only use fire, then he's got nothing on me."

Zak charged forward, changing his cutlass into an axe. Firecracker managed to block the strike with his metal arm and tried to punch the boy. However Zak easily dodged the strike. The Ladybug swooped in and tried to restrain the villain with her yoyo. The villain started emitting flames, loosening the grip of the string and jumped out of it. He immediately attacked the girl. Zak jumped in front of her and shielded the girl with his arms. Then he threw an axe at the villain. The man managed to dodge it although barely. Zak created another sword, ready to attack again.

"Wait, stop!" yelled Ladybug. The brown haired boy raised an eyebrow at her. "It's no use simply attacking him. We need to find the object with the akuma."

Zak raised an eyebrow even more. "These villains get their powers from an object that contains a magical butterfly. We need to find it and break it."

Zak put two fingers to his chin. "Maybe I have something that can help us with this."

Zak pulled the camera onto his right eye. He didn't only receive the powers of Calabrass. He somewhat inherited the talents and abilities of all of his crew mates. He didn't possess Caramba's intellect, but his camera turned into something akin to supercomputer. "Okay, analyze" muttered the boy. Several circles appeared on the camera screen. They quickly went over Firecracker's body. Then, his jacket became highlighted.

"His jacket. It gives off different reading."

"What? How do you know?" asked the heroine. Zak tapped his head cam. "Cat, let's try going for his jacket."

"On it my lady."

Cat Noir threw his pole like a spear. Firecracker jumped away, only to get caught by Cat Noir, who was already behind him. However that was hero's mistake. As soon as he took a hold of the jacket, his hands got burned. Cat Noir jumped away. "It's no use my lady. We need to cool him down."

"Well, I guess enough fooling around" said the brown haired boy. His axe and gauntlets disappeared. Zak's arms got covered by blue, liquid-like substance. Then a pair of blue revolvers appeared in his hands. Zak started shooting at the man. The projectiles he used were blue and really looked like lasers. However once they made contact with Firecracker, they disappeared in a puff of steam. The villain let out a groan. Zak continued shooting, each shot cooling Firecracker off. Villain's body became darker and the fire on his head died down.

"Now kitty"

"Cataclysm!"

Cat Noir swiped the jacket with his claws. The clothing turned black and rotted away, freeing the akuma inside.

"Couldn't you have done that without cooling him off" asked Zak. "I… well… yeah, I probably could've."

Ladybug devilized the akuma and the butterfly flew away. She wanted to throw her lucky charm to return everything to normal, but she understood that this time, she didn't even need to use it. Instead she threw her yoyo. It worked. The unusual weapon turned into a swarm of butterflies and repaired all the damage caused by the Firecracker. "Wow, handy skill" said the brown haired boy. Ladybug walked over to him.

"Thank you for the help citizen, but I would ask you to leave job like this to the professionals. Things could've ended badly for you."

"I think I did pretty good job there" said the boy with a smirk. "Yes, that you did, but that was ehm…"

"Beginners luck" said Cat Noir.

"I am not a beginner when it comes to fighting."

"Yeah, want to be proven wrong about that?" said the blonde boy. His tone was aggressive. Zak Glared at him. However Ladybug stood in between them. "What's gotten into you, Cat Noir?" Then she looked at Zak. "Listen, we understand that you can take care of yourself, but we would like you to stay out of trouble. This is our job, not yours."

"Yeah, sure" said the brown haired boy as his gauntlets and revolvers disappeared. He went back into school. The heroes didn't even do they signature 'Pound it'. It felt wrong. They didn't do much in this fight. "I don't like him" said Cat noir as he eyed Zak's retreating figure. "You are acting weird kitty."

"Yeah, I know, well, see ya my lady"

"See ya"

With that Ladybug jumped onto one of the roofs and then jumped over onto the school roof. She did this loop in order to make sure that people did see the fact that she was attending this school. Just in case. She detransformed and looked at Tikki with worried expression. "What was that Tikki? What is Zak?"

Kwami was looking at the girl with worry. It was almost scary to look at Marinette. Her face was a mix of worry and fear. "I… let's talk at home" said the little red creature, her voice uncharacteristically serious. This made Marinette even more worried. She went over to and edge of the roof and looked down. There Zak was surrounded by her classmates. They were talking to him with excitement. Then his gaze seemingly turned to her and the girl bounced away from the roof edge as if it was on fire. He couldn't see her from down there, right? Right?! No, there is no need to panic. He didn't seem to be a bad person, so there was no point in these emotions, but they were still there. Now she couldn't wait to get back home and have a very long conversation with her kwami.

Meanwhile Cat Noir got into the gym. There was no one there and he changed back into his civilian form. "Who is that guy?!" asked the boy as he hit nearest wall. "Chill out kid. Better let's go get some camembert. I'm starving."

The blonde eyed the black creature carefully. "You know something." Plagg looked at the boy as expression got serious. Andrien has never seen him like this. "We will talk about this later." The kwami was dead serious and it really worried the blonde. However now he needed to get to his class.

Meanwhile Zak was getting the attention of his new class. He was bombarded with questions about his powers, where did he get them and how long has he been a superhero. Zak laughed and replied that he preferred to keep that information to himself. They were surprisingly understanding about it. The rest of the lessons got canceled despite the fact that the school got repaired, much to everyone's joy.

Zak retrieved his bag and met Chloe on the way out of the school. "So you are a superhero as well, huh?" asked the girl dismissively. "Well, I'm more of a pirate than anything else."

"Pirate? That's so lame."

"Well, I also think that the costumes that your superfriends wear. "Hey, our costumes are stylish and beautiful and…"

Zak chuckled at her response. Chloe blushed. "Anyway, you… did a pretty good job there. Maybe you do worth something."

With that the girl left. Zak watched her leave as he scratched the back of his head. She was a weird girl, maybe even in a bad way. "Wow, Chloe said something to you on the first day? You must be really something."

Zak turned around and saw a girl with hair that was almost blue in color. "Maybe… and sorry, I forgot your name."

"Marinette."

"Yeah, I'll try to remember."

"Yeah, please do that. Listen… Zak, can I call you Zak?"

"Yes, of course."

"Zak, I was thinking, maybe you shouldn't act so boldly. I mean as a superhero."

The boy gave her a confused look. "I mean. Ladybug and Cat Noir have secret identities and stuff… I mean, if missis Caline is your aunt, then villains might go after her and your family members."

Zak was about to say something, but stopped. "Yeah, that probably wasn't very smart. Listen, I promise I will protect her. I am strong."

"Yeah, I've noticed."

Zak smirked. "You haven't seen much."

That statement left the girl shocked, although she tried not to show it. "Okay."

"Zak, are you ready to go home" came the voice of Caline. "Yeah, sure auntie. Goodbye, Marinette."

The girl only managed to wave back. She watched at the retreating forms of her teacher and the brunette boy. Things have just gotten more complicated.

Gabriel Agreste was flipping through the book of Miraculouses. He was searching for something, but couldn't find it. He slammed the book onto the table. "What miraculous did that boy possess? Nooroo what miraculous was that?"

The kwami averted his gaze. "Answer me!"

"He, he is not a miraculous user."

"What?! Explain, now."

"That boy. He is someone that is cursed by the Bermuda Triangle."

It was evening already. Marinette was seating in her room, looking at her kwami. They were about to have that important conversation. "So, Zak's powers?"

"Well, as you know we, kwamis, were created to fight evil beings of this world."

"Like Hawk Moth?"

"No. Hawk Moth uses powers of a kwami as well. He probably altered them somehow, but that power was created for good too. Zak's power, however, doesn't come from good. I can't tell you everything, but I can tell you that there was a battle between seven powerful beings. Somehow they managed to kill each other all at the same time. However they couldn't just die. They were far too strong. Their deaths created a rift in space and time, placing a curse onto the place where they fought."

"Where was that?"

"Tikki averted her gaze. "The Bermuda Triangle."

"What?! So all those stories about mysterious disappearances were real?"

"Well, maybe not all of them, but yes, they have a right to exist."

"Wait, so how is Zak related to that?"

"I presume that he broke the curse, thus becoming the triangle."

"So, Zak Storm is the Bermuda Triangle. Well that's certainly something new. So, I felt uneasy around him due to the nature of his powers and because I am Ladybug?"

The kwami nodded. Marinette looked at the ceiling with a blank expression. "Say, Tikki, will we have to fight him?"

"Zak? No, not unless he would do something that would force us. I really don't want to put you through a fight with someone as dangerous as the bearer of the Bermuda Triangle curse."

"He didn't seem to be a bad person. I hope that we manage to get along."

"Yeah, that would be nice" said Tikki as she took a seat on Marinette's shoulder. "Time will tell."

"So basically you are saying that Bermuda Triangle, The Bermuda Triangle, is now a single person?" asked Adrien. "Yes, why do you sound so surprise, kid?" asked the black kwami. "Well, because it sound ridiculous."

"More ridiculous than a magical ring with a kwami inside that transforms you into a superhero?"

"Yes!"

"Well, as long as he doesn't do anything bad, we don't have to worry about him" said Plagg as he threw a piece of camembert into his mouth. "Even if he does, I'm sure that me and my Lady would be able to deal with him."

"NO."

Adrien looked at his kwami with shocked expression. He sounded dead serious and was now looking at him sternly. "You are far from being ready to fight something like that."

"But, me and Ladybug make pretty good team."

"You are not ready" stated Plagg, his voice firm. The blonde was taken aback by this sudden outburst. He decided to drop the subject there.

Zak was seating in the living room, doing his homework. His aunt and mother were at the kitchen, talking. "So, Paris has gotten weirder since the time that I left."

"Yes, sis, it certainly did" said Caline as she took a sip of her coffee. "Did Zak protect you?"

"Yes, he did. He is so strong."

"I wanted to shield him from such life."

"Are you going to move away?"

"No. I won't leave you in a city where super villains appear on daily basis alone and unprotected."

"I was fine until now, so if you want to…"

"Fine until today you almost got fried today. If my son wasn't there, you could've been dead now."

"Let's not talk about such grim things."

"Caline, this is serious."

"I know, but what can I do? The only thing left for the citizens of Paris is to believe in Ladybug and Cat Noir."

"Well, that's a very passive way of living."

"But what can an ordinary human do against a person possessing superpowers?"

"What an ordinary human can do? Zak, honey, come here for a moment!"

The boy walked into the kitchen. "What is it mom?"

"Honey, tell me, did you ever lose your sword before you broke the curse of the triangle?"

"Yes, of course."

"Did it ever stop you from helping your friends?"

"No, almost never."

"Okay, okay, I get what you are saying, but, what can I, or the two of us, do?"

"We used to do fencing when we were younger."

"That was so long ago. I believe we are too old to start that again, well I maybe not, but you definitely are."

"I'm sorry, what?! To the living room. Zak, make us two blunt swords, preferably not out of fire."

"Uhm, sure."

Zak's mother and Caline went to the living room and started moving the furniture around. They made a clearing at the center of the room. Zak created two swords made out of ice with blunt edges. He handed them over to the women. Zak's mom smirked as she swung the weapon a couple of times in order to adjust to it a couple of times. "Ready, sis?"

"As if it matters" replied the other woman and the two begun sparring.


	2. Chapter 2

Marinette slammed her head into the table, well, into a copybook to be precise. She had to write an essay on a topic of 'The importance of physical and mental strength'. The assignment was given by non other than the mother of the new kid in town, Zak Storm. She was the sister of miss Caline and applied for a position of an English teacher in their school. The woman was very strict. She gave large home assignments and even larger amount of material for theory. However she turned out to be quite loyal to her students when a bunch of news reporters came into the school in order to get interviews from Adrien, much to his discontent. The woman made it quite clear that a teacher was in charge at the school and that they could get lost until the end of the school day.

Then, when the school day was over, she and her son, Zak, created a distraction. She told her son to switch clothes with Adrien in order to fool the paparazzi. It worked and the horde of annoying reporters along with a gang of newly joined, crazy fans chased after the brown haired boy. They were really disappointed when they found out that they were fooled. She had to admit that the brown haired boy was quite helpful, not only with regular school problems, yes, paparazzi is a regular school problem for them, but also with more exquisite ordeals.

A week had passed since the boy became a part of Paris's daily life. Ladybug and Cat Noir knew that he was strong, but over the course of this week, the superhero duet learned just how strong he was. In short, he was immensely powerful, like slice-the-Eifel-Tower-down-in-one-swing level of powerful. He was stronger than she and Cat Noir put together and it scared her. It also had this strange correlation with her essay.

She could write a lot about mental strength, about the determination and will to help the others. But what about physical strength? A few days prior she would probably just brush it off as less important part of someone's strength. What can material power do if you don't have the courage or will to save someone? However an accident a few days ago certainly made her doubt this opinion.

*Flashback*

Ladybug and Cat Noir were dealing with yet another akumatised person. This time it was a boxer of some sort that received super strength. He went around the city, destroying buildings. While fighting they managed to reach the Eifel Tower. Cat Noir was dodging the strikes from the villain, trying to deal some damage at the same time. He did a pretty good job, however Ladybug couldn't stop herself from being worried about him.

The girl used her yoyo in order to catch man's arm in attempt to restrain him. Needless to say, it didn't work. The superheroine got thrown straight into the Eifel Tower. However she didn't hit the metal as her partner swooped in for a last minute save. "Going for a flight, my lady?" asked the boy with a cheeky grin. "No time for jokes kitty. We need to figure out a way to restrain him and find where the akuma is."

"Yeah, by the way, do you have this feeling of déjà vu?"

"Yeah, remind me of the time we fought with Anansi."

"Maybe we can have another round at the ring?"

"No kitty, one hit from him and we are doomed. We need a more careful approach here."

Suddenly the tower shook. The heroes looked down and saw the akumatised person punching the tower foundation. The construct bent. There was loud cracking sound and the tower fell. The heroes jumped off of it. However Ladybug managed to see something from the corner of her eye. She turned her head in midair and gasped in horror. There, right where the tower was falling was a woman. The girl swung her signature weapon in an attempt to swing herself forward. However she wouldn't be able to get there in time and the woman couldn't get away. Then there was a flash of purple lightning that went a few centimeters away from Ladybug's face and the tower fell to the ground.

The supeheroine landed onto the metallic ruins and to her great surprise, she saw another half of the tower, lying a dozen of meters away from the one she was standing on. It looked like the metal was cut by something. Then she looked at the woman. Surely enough, another person was sitting in front of her. It was Zak and he had a sword that was crackling with purple lightning beside him.

The girl hoped down and ran over to the brown haired boy. "Are you alright?" He was panting as if he just ran a mile. "Yeah, that slice drained me real good. I'll be in fighting shape in a few."

"Don't. Get to safe…"

"Careful!" shouted the boy as he grabbed the heroine by the wrist and rolled away from a strike that came a moment later. The villain came back. Luckily the civilian ran away. However the heroes had another problem at hand. The akumatised boxer unleashed a series of ground-shaking punches onto the teens. Zak managed to materialize a shield and jumped in front of Ladybug. Each punch sounded like thunder. The boy seemed to be able to hold, but not without effort. He probably wasted too much of his energy on cutting the Eiffel Tower in half. She needed to figure out the akumatised object, fast.

Cat Noir attacked the man from behind, giving the brown haired boy some time to take a breath. Together the boys started attacking the man. However Zak's movements were much slower than they used to be. He was too drained. Come one Marinette, think! The object must stand out. It had to be something special for a… Wait! Medal. There was a medal hanging on man's neck. "Boys, his medal, the akuma must be there!"

Zak and Cat Noir nodded. The leather clad boy tried to snatch the object, but the boxer jumped away. Zak tried the same, but met similar result. Then he grabbed the man by the arm and tried to hold it in place. Cat Noir got the hint and did the same with boxer's other arm. Ladybug rushed forward and snatched the medal just in time before the man threw both of the boys away. He tried to hit the girl. Marinette dropped the medal on the ground and jumped away. The villain hit the medal and crushed it. A black butterfly escaped from it. Ladybug caught it into her yoyo and purified it. The butterfly turned white and flew away. The girl threw her yoyo into the air and all the damage got fixed. The Eiffel Tower returned to normal. The girl walked over to the boys that were seating on the ground, tired.

"Wow, that sure was tiresome" said the brown haired boy. "It was nothing" said Cat Noir. "Yeah, it is clearly visible by your frantic breathing."

"You are no better!"

"Yeah, yeah, true. Well, I need to get going. I have my mom's lesson right now. See ya." The boy managed to stand up and walk away. Ladybug watched him go and then looked at Eifel Tower. It was such a grandiose construct, a symbol of Paris and a symbol of France. Moments ago it was lying on the ground, sliced in half with a single strike. Just how strong was this guy? What of he, met this boxer first? Would he be able to defeat him quicker, with less damage done to the city? Maybe she and Cat Noir weren't strong enough to protect the denizens of Paris?

*End of Flashback*

Marinette was still staring at the ceiling. Memories of the last battle were still plaguing the girl. Her kwami was flying around her, worried. "Tikki, am I a strong Ladybug?"

"You are a great Ladybug, Marinette." said the creature with a wide smile.

"Yeah, but am I strong? Am I strong enough to face that evil that previous Ladybugs fought against? Am I as strong as the previous Ladybugs?"

Tikki didn't answer. She floated onto the table. "You are a great Ladybug and you are fit to be the protector of Paris."

"What will happen if someone stronger than Hawk Moth appears? What will we do then?"

"You have Cat Noir and Alya and Nino and even Chloe to help you out if things go awry. Your teamwork will get you through everything."

"Even if Zak turns evil?" asked the girl as she narrowed her eyes at her kwami. The creature averted her gaze. "Yes, I think together you will be able to win." Said the creature in a quiet tone.

Marinette narrowed her eyes at the creature. Then she let out a sigh. "You don't believe that."

Tikki didn't answer. She flew over to the girl and looked her in the eyes. "Listen, Marinette. Former Ladybugs were not like you. They were warriors for the most part and lacked any appreciation of their own life. They would give off their life in an instant. They rarely understood the value of it. You enjoy your life, Marinette, and I love that part about you. That's why I don't want you to be like previous Ladybugs and I don't want you to face the terrors that previous Ladybugs faced."

The girl let out another sigh and hugged her kwami. "Sorry, Tikki. I know you care about me. It's just… recent events caused me to think about certain things."

"Don't worry. I'm sure you and your friends would be able to overcome everything this city would be able to throw at you."

The girl gave the creature a small smile and returned to her homework. She had to finish this essay. She hated doing it, but it seemed like she would have to give some general answer and write in big letters, very big letters. She just hoped that this will do.

Once Marinette was done with her homework, she looked at the clock. It was past 11p.m. Her parents had to be asleep now. She needed to get some fresh air, by swinging from one rooftop to another. "Tikki, spots on!" The girl transformed and swung out of the house. Now, where should she go to? After a few seconds of thinking, she settled on the relatively obvious option, the Eiffel Tower. It was quite refreshing to feel the cold air on her skin. This was one of the best parts of being a superhero. Swinging over the rooftops of a city, high above the streets and civilians, there was this feeling of freedom that was intoxicating. Soon enough she was at her destination. She swung around the tower, getting higher and higher, until she saw a familiar face.

No, it wasn't Chat Noir. It was Zak. He was seating at the top of the tower, on a pedestal made out of stone, looking at Siena. The girl swung over to him and waved at the boy. He waved back with a weak smile. "Mind if I sit here?" asked the girl.

"Yeah, sure."

Zak moved his hand and the stone beneath him separated and formed another pedestal for the girl to sit at. The girl smiled and took a seat beside the boy. "What brings you here this late?" asked the brown haired teen. "I just needed to get some fresh air. You?"

"I like the sight if the river from up here. Kind of reminds me of the 7Cs"

Marinette gave him a slightly confused look. "You mean Seven Seas of The Bermuda Triangle?"

"Uh… oh, no, I got you confused. My crew. It was called Seven Cs, since our names started with the letter C."

"Wait, your name is…"

"I'm the captain."

"Oh, I see… Do you miss them?"

"Yeah, I do. However there wasn't any other way. We were from different dimensions, timelines and planets. I guess we never meant to be BFFs."

"You have your whole life ahead of you. Who knows, maybe you will be able to meet them, someday."

"Maybe, but seems doubtful."

"Hey, don't lose optimism. Considering all your powers, I'm sure you will be able to come up with something."

The boy smiled at her. "Yeah, I guess you have a point… So, why are you so tense?"

"What, I'm not tense at all. I don't know what you are talking about" said the girl in a panicked voice. Zak chuckled. "You've been clutching your yo-yo for all out conversation. Kind of strange considering our warm chit-chat."

Ladybug clutched her arm. She couldn't tell him, right? Maybe… no, he wouldn't understand, would he? It was silly. I am hostile to you because of the bias that my magical bug has towards you. That would be too weird.

"Is it due to the source of your powers?"

Marinette looked at the boy with terrified expression. The boy let out a sigh. "I guessed as much. I know about the source of my powers, about those seven demons or whatever they were. I figured that other magical beings won't trust me that much. Am I correct, because I would look very silly if I am wrong."

The girl let out a sigh. "Yeah, you are correct. My… did Chloe tell you about how our powers work?"

"Yeah, she said that you had these small creatures that get absorbed into an artifact of sorts and then you get transformed."

"Yeah, that's basically it, although she should've kept this a secret. Anyway, my kwami, all of our kwamis probably, are… very careful about you."

"They don't trust me."

"Well, no… maybe a little bit. My kwami said that she wouldn't want to fight you, but she cares more about me in this situation and I probably telling you too much already."

"Who knows, maybe your magic will wipe my memory, just like it does with your look."

Marinette gave him a very confused and shocked expression. Jack raised an eyebrow. "You don't know, do you?"

"Know what?"

Zak blinked in confusion. Marinette started feeling uneasy under his gaze. He seemed to know something about her that she had no idea about. It was unnerving. "It's just… It's hard to explain… Look, on the first day Chloe showed me the video from Ladyblog and I've noticed certain similarities between you and this girl in my class, or at least I thought I did."

Marinette paled at the words, however Zak didn't seem to notice. "The moment I looked at the girl the thought of that feature became blurry and I forgot how you look. Even now, when I turn away I can't recollect your appearance fully. I assumed that your magic was the cause."

A wave of relief came over the girl. He didn't know who she was, but for how long would it stay that way?

"Relax. Even if I will find out I won't tell anyone."

"Yeah, but I still would like to keep my identity an absolute secret."

"I can understand that."

"Listen, Zak, aren't you afraid that someone will come for your parents or Mrs. Calline? Everyone knows who you are, so…"

"Of course I am afraid, that's why I should be stronger, stronger than anyone and anything the world can throw at me. What will pure desire to protect do if you don't have the strength to actually protect the ones you love?"

Zak started at his palm. It got covered by red armor and a fireball appeared in it. "To defeat the likes of Hawk Moth, to protect the ones I love. That's why I should keep on becoming stronger."

Ladybug stared at the boy. This conversation became awfully serious all of a sudden. The boy stood up on the pedestal and threw the fireball into the air. The flaming sphere flew high, then split into about half a dozen of smaller flames and then exploded like fireworks.

"Wow" muttered the girl. "I finally managed to do that. I've been trying to create fireworks for weeks now. Now it would be great to find an opportunity to use this. So, why are you fighting?"

"I just like helping people."

"Don't you have special people you want to protect?"

"Well, yeah, obviously, but I rarely think about that. Usually an akumatised person appears and we hop in to save the day."

Zak gave her a look that the girl didn't like. It was confusion, but it was the type of confusion that said 'Are you serious?' or something like that. "Say, have you ever tried to learn more about your powers, become better with using them and, maybe defeat the big bad guy for good.

The question pulled the girl out of her daze. She looked at the brown haired boy with an unreadable expression. She really didn't know how to answer that question. "I've never thought about it" said the heroine as she clutched her elbow nervously. "Why?"

"What do you mean 'why'? It's not a question someone asks himself on normal occasion. Me and Chat always managed to deal with anything that Hawk Moth could throw at us or we can always ask our friends to help: Carapace, Rena Rogue and even Queen Bee" retorted the girl, but Zak had a point. She almost never tried to research the miraculouses or kwamis. She hadn't even asked Tikki about the full extent of her powers. Come to think of it, she barely knew anything about her kwami. She learned that Plagg was responsible for some of the major catastrophes that happened in the past. Hell he seemed to be responsible for the fact that Atlanstic sank. Then when she was fighting Prime Queen, the little creature used cataclysm and damaged several districts with one touch. How strong were kwamis? If they, the holders, were simply the restrictors of kwami powers, then what's the point in her and Chat using the miraculouses? Maybe Tikki and Plagg could defeat Hawk Moth long time ago if they weren't restricted by their owners? There were so many questions in Marinette's head now.

"I'm sorry Zak, but I think I need to go now. You just gave me something to think about."

"See ya."

The girl swung her yo-yo and was out of sight in a few swings. Zak gave the river another look, stood up, destroyed the pedestal he was standing on and jumped off the tower. His feet lit with purple electricity and he jumped from one rooftop to another with bursts of electricity.

Marinette returned home and detransformed. Her kwami looked at her friend with a concerned expression. "Tikki, tell me everything you can about yourself, the kwamis, miraculouses, everything."

The creature looked at the girl and sighed. "Okay, we can talk tomorrow, on your way to school. You need to get some sleep."

Marinette let out a sigh. "You are right, but you are not getting out of this."

"I know, I do believe that you deserve to know at least a little bit more."

"A little bit? Tikki, we are partners! Shouldn't we know everything about each other?"

"Listen, Marinette, I wish to tell you everything, but I simply can't, for personal and magical reasons. I will tell you everything I can, but certain things are simply locked with a spell on all of us, kwamis."

Marinette sighed again. "Okay, I understand. Let's get some sleep and tomorrow, you are giving me a personal lesson on kwami history."

"I will, I promise. Good night Marinette."

"Good night, Tikki."


	3. Chapter 3

The next morning Marinette took a longer route to the school, going through alleys where chances to stumble into someone were slim. This way she could have a proper conversation with Tikki. "So, let's start with how you were born."

"Well, I can't let you in on all the story, but I can say that we were created by an order of mages or guardians, if you want. We all were created in different times by the means of a ritual."

"What ritual?"

"I can't really describe it in details, because I honestly don't know all of its aspects, but it basically takes an event and embodies its core aspect into a living being – a kwami. For example if someone builds something grandiose and a ritual is performed a kwami would be born possessing a power of creation."

"Is that how you were born?"

"I can't answer that. Sorry."

"It's fine. Now why do you need us, miraculous holders? Because it seems that we only restrict you."

"That's only partially true. We weren't this powerful when we were created. Our strength amplifies with each subsequent holder. This way when you jump, it is as if you put strength of several people into the jump and you jump higher than humanly possible."

"Wait, does it mean that I can lift a car?"

The little red creature giggled. "Not at the moment, Marinette."

"But I may be able in the future?"

"I really hope that you won't need to. I hold the power of every Ladybug that came before you. Their powers varied. We, kwamis, inherit their skills and abilities that they developed. Thus, the next Ladybug would be that much stronger."

"Why haven't you told me about this before?"

"I didn't think that it was important. I hoped it wouldn't be important. I don't want you to fight like those Ladybugs. They lived in darker times. They had to fight demons, dragons – monsters that are tougher than anything Hawk Moth had thrown at us. I hope that once we defeat Hawk Moth, the toughest opponent you would face, would be regular criminals."

Marinette stopped and looked at her kwami. "You really care about me."

"Yes, I do. You are the cutest Ladybug that I ever had. I don't want anything bad happening to you."

The girl smiled at her. "Thanks Tikki. By the way, one of the former Ladybugs had slain a dragon?"

"Yes."

"Who was it?"

"Jeane D'arc"

"What?!" exclaimed the girl with wide eyes. Tikki looked at her confused. She didn't expect that this name would produce such a reaction. "Jeane D'arc was a Ladybug?!"

"Yes, several legendary heroes were."

"Then Rolland, Charles the Great were miraculous holders too?"

Tikki giggled. "No Marinette, they weren't. Not every legendary character was a miraculous holder. However the power of Charlmagne and his twelve paladins could rival ours."

"So there are more ways to gain special abilities?"

"Well, Zak is a clear example of that, but yes. The kwami-miraculous system was created to allow easy access to magical powers for any user if the situation requires. However there are other ways to gain magical powers."

"Suddenly I feel like I know nothing of this world."

"You don't."

"Hey!"

Tikki giggled and flew away as Marinette tried to playfully catch her.

The duo finally reached the school. Tikki hid in Marinette's purse and they entered the school.

Marinette's school day went quite fine. Even Chloe seemed to bother her less since Zak occupied most of her time. Not in that way. It seemed like the boy managed to truly spike her interest, not as a potential boyfriend, but as a friend. It was surprising to everyone in the class. It probably even surprised the blonde girl. However the class rolled with it. Chloe even lessened her disgusting behavior. That's why most people were glad that Zak was here.

At the end of the school day Marinette and Alya were walking to a park. On their way there they spotted the brown haired pirate. He was walking alone now. Chloe and Sabrina had probably went to the former's home. Alya called him over. The boy noticed them and walked over to the girls.

"Hi there" said the boy with a grin. "Hi yourself, again" said Alya as she giggled. "Where were you going" asked the blue haired girl. "Oh, I decided to take a small detour on my way home. You?"

"We are heading to the park in order to meet my sisters. I have to babysit them for the rest of the day."

"Oh, I see."

"Say… Zak. Can you come with us? My sisters were begging for a meeting with the newest superhero of Paris. I already drowned their hopes when I said that I don't know Ladybug personally. I can't get myself out of this one. They know that you are my classmate."

"So, meeting with fans, sure."

"Great, let's go" said the redhead and the trio ventured towards the park.

There they were greeted by happy squeals of Cesire twins along with Nora's smile. The girls immediately ran over to Zak and bombarded him with questions and small requests like: make a fireball, freeze the floor, electrocute the air. Alya and Marinette laughed and walked over to Nora, while Zak was busy with the twins. He was handling himself well.

"He is quite popular guy, ain't he?" said Nora with a smile. "Yeah. Well he is a superhero" said Alya with a shrug.

"Hey, can you create a lightning storm?" came a question from one of the twins. "No, at least I don't think so."

"Aww, let's try" said another girl. "I don't think that using powers without danger is a bit irresponsible"

"Aww, that sucks"

"Language young lady!" yelled Nora. The twins looked down in shame. However their mood didn't stay down for long as they bombarded Zak with another batch of questions.

"Well, let's hope this day will remain akuma-free and Zak won't need to use his powers today" said Marinette. "Well according to movie tropes an akumatised villain must appear right… about… a second… another one… now" said Alya as she pointed at a random spot in the sky. Nothing happened. She pouted. "Oh, come on. Are you telling me that I won't get a scoop? Come on Hawk Moth, don't let me down."

"Should I be worried that you are disappointed that a supervillain is no trying to destroy Paris."

"Nah. With Ladybug, Cat Noir and Zak, there's nothing that Hawk Moth can throw at us. Oh and they also have that fox superhero, Rena Rogue. I think she is awesome."

Marinette smiled once her friend mentioned her secret identity. It was kind of cute how she was praising herself, thinking that no one knows. Marinette knew. She should try take her on the next fight with an akuma. She kind of wished that Alya could work with her full time. Even Trixx seemed to like the redhead. Maybe a few more successful akuma captures and she will be able to ask master Wu to lend Alya the kwami for full-time use. It would be nice to always have Alya by her side. She smiled at the thought. Maybe one day…

Meanwhile

Hawk Moth was standing in his lair, surrounded by his butterflies. It was about time that he plunged Paris into chaos once again. He just had to find a right target. With the arrival of the new boy, fighting the heroes of Paris became harder. He had to be more careful with his choice. He managed to improve the quality of his creations for the past few weeks, but they were still getting defeated.

Now, who would make a worthy candidate? A crying baby, no, that didn't go well the last time, a heartbroken young man, no, too annoying, obnoxious, ridiculous… just no, another boxer, no, an artist must not repeat himself, at least not immediately. Ah, what's this? What a peculiar character?

It was a hospital. A man in his thirties was seating by a hospital bed. A girl of about twelve years was lying in the bed. She seemed to be sleeping while the man was reading a book out loud. "… and with Roland's journey has ended." He set the book on the table. It was called 'Twelve paladins of Charlemagne'. The girl remained motionless. The room fell silent apart from the beeping of medical machinery. The man stood up and looked around the room. There were wooden figures all over the room. There were knights, wizards, castles, and various monsters. The man took something out of his bag and set it on the table beside the bed. It was a wooden dragon.

"Get well, honey."

The door swung open and a nurse walked in. "Has she woken up?"

"No, not today. Just like yesterday and the day before that, just like the previous year."

"You've made a new toy for her?"

"Yeah, I'd like to imagine that when she wakes, she would think that she is in a fairy tale… if she wakes up."

"She will. I'm sure she will."

"You don't even know why she is asleep."

The nurse didn't respond, she simply walked over to the sleeping girl and started setting up the infusions. "I'm sorry, I'm just… tired." said the man.

"Don't worry, I understand… somewhat I guess."

Suddenly the girl jerked up and started violently throwing herself in her bed. Her eyes were still closed. The nurse grabbed girl's shoulders and tried to hold her down, trying to make sure that the girl doesn't hurt herself. The man rushed over to her side and helped the woman. After a few minutes the girl seemed to stop moving and became motionless once again.

"Why… why did it have to happen to us?!" The man stormed out of the hospital.

Hawk Moth couldn't resist a smile, such a wonderful emotion. It wasn't anger or fear or sadness. It was despair, despair nurtured by time, that now bloomed into a gorgeous flower. He extended his hand and a butterfly landed on it. "Go my little akuma and evilize him"

The black butterfly flew through the city and found the man bound by despair. However which object should be possessed. The butterfly followed the man for some time until he walked into a church. Upon entering the building, he took a seat on a bench, took out a silver cross that was hanging on his neck and started praying. Cross was just perfect. The akuma flew down and possessed the silver cross.

"Well hello there… Albert, I believe that is your name."

The man jumped up in fear and looked around himself. Someone spoke to him, but who? The church was empty. "Who are you?!"

"I am Hawk Moth. You may have seen some of my… 'employees' before."

"You, you are the guy that creates all those supervillians."

"Yes, that is me. However enough about me. You are a much more interesting subject. Your daughter suddenly fell into a coma after traveling to England and hasn't woken up ever since. Doctor's don't know the cause behind this. Fate is so unfair. How about we strike a deal?"

"No! I don't need help from someone like you."

"Are you so sure? If you retrieve the miraculouses from Ladybug and Chat Noir, I would be able to grant you any wish, including curing your daughter."

"No, I don't want to fight them. My girl likes heroes, knights, she would hate me if I bring her back by fighting the protectors of Paris!" yelled the man as he grabbed his head like a madman.

"Maybe she will, but at least she will be able to do something. Beside, once I get what I won't I will have no need in terrorizing Paris and therefore there won't be the need in supernatural protectors. Come, let's make a deal."

"I… I… I agree."

"Great, now you will get an abi…" the man stopped midsentence as he got zapped by something. He was about to grant Albert his power, but something repelled him.

Black markings spread across Albert's body instead of purple smoke. A moment later they disappeared. "I will need to prepare" whispered the man and left the church.

Hawk Moth was confused. This has never happened before. Slowly a smile made its way back onto his face. This would be interesting.


	4. Chapter 4

It was yet another night, yet another patrol. Ladybug swung by the Eifel Tower, and was even somewhat disappointed that Zak wasn't there. It seemed her 'Ladybug' instincts had loosened up and weren't treating the boy with as much aggressiveness. After getting to know him even a little bit better Marinette grew fond of him. She wouldn't mind some company right now since Chat Noir seemed to be somewhere else currently. She would probably stumble into him, but as of right now he was nowhere to be found.

The young superheroine eventually made her way to a park. She stopped on one of the rooftops and stared at the park. There was something that mesmerized the girl in this park. It was nothing special, a few trees, a few benches as well as a fountain. However Ladybug always stopped to look at it for a few minutes. Her mind just switched off at the sight of this place and a strange feeling of tranquility washed over her. It was a quiet place, not a huge tourist attraction like Eifel Tower or Notre Dame. Maybe that was its charm. Anyway, she had to get going.

Just as Ladybug was about to swing away, she saw two people walking through the park from the corner of her eye. She wouldn't bother, but she managed to recognize one of those people. It was Ivan. The other one was just a man. Marinette decided to stay, just in case. She watched as the two walked past one another, but then the man grabbed Ivan by the arm and put a hand onto boy's face, there was some faint glow coming from his hand and then Ivan fell onto the ground, seemingly unconscious. Ladybug immediately dashed forward.

The man noticed her, put on a hood and started running away. "Not so fast!"

Ladybug was faster. She managed to catch up to the man. He swiftly turned around and delivered a punch. He was a regular human, so there was no point in dodging the strike. Ladybug put her arms in front of her and felt her body being flung several meters back. She was surprised to say the least. The man dashed in the opposite direction. In a matter of seconds, the man was gone. Ladybug sighed and went over to her classmate.

"Are you alright, ahh, dear citizen?"

Ivan stood, holding onto his head. "Yeah, I'm fine. I just feel a little bit weak. Who was that?"

"I don't know, probably an akumatized person, but he didn't have a costume."

"Maybe he put something over it, to not stand out."

"Maybe, did you manage to notice something particular about him?"

"No, not really. I wasn't paying attention. Then he grabbed me and I found myself on the ground."

"I see, okay, you need to get home. Do you want me to walk you there?"

"No, you should go and try to catch that guy."

Ladybug nodded and swung away. She got atop of a building and looked around for the man. However it was of no use. She didn't remember anything particular about him. She couldn't even recall what clothes he was wearing. She sighed and hoped onto another rooftop. If she will patrol long enough, she will stumble upon this man eventually, probably. She had to inform Chat Noir about this. She took out her yo-yo and opened it. In a matter of seconds Chat Noir's face appeared on the screen. "Hello my Lady. Missing me already?"

"Dream on. Listen, I've stumbled upon this guy…"

"What guy?"

"That's the thing, I don't know. He attacked Ivan, a guy from a class of that reporter girl. Alya was her name? He doesn't look anything special, he doesn't have a suit or something like that, just a regular guy, but he managed to send me flying with a single punch."

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just be a little but more vigilant on tonight's patrol."

"Got it, my Lady."

He hung up and Ladybug continued her patrol.

Several hours later Ladybug found no one. Well, not exactly no one, she did stumble into several people, but not the guy from the park. Eventually she decided that it was useless to look for him now. She probably scared him away. She had to get back home and get some sleep.

The next morning started especially hard for the blue haired girl. She didn't get enough sleep and her head hurt like hell when she woke up, she overslept and ended up being late for class. Once the break begun, Alya dragged the girl out of the classroom. "Girl, there is something going on in this city!" said the girl in an excited voice.

"Okay, okay, I'm listening, just lower your voice please. My head is cracking up."

"Sure. So, Ivan got attacked last night."

"And you are excited over that?"

"He was fine, Ladybug saved him and attacked is kind of a strong word. Ivan says that the man touched him and he just felt very weak all of a sudden. Listen to the next thing. Several more people got a visit from some strange man. They are: Nathaniel, Mylene, Aurore…"

"Who?"

"Stormy weather and Kim. They all say that this man touched them and they felt weak. Mylene even said that he apologized after he did whatever he did."

"Aaand, your point?"

"A new, strange villain is on the streets of Paris. Imagine how much more popular my blog would become if I will be able to get to the bottom of this."

Marinette's eyes widened. "Alya, no. All of those guys that you mentioned have been akumatized before. Half of… no… every member of your family has been akumatized. Your house would be like a candy shop for him. Listen, we don't know why he hunts down previously akumatized people, so please stay out of it."

"But…"

"Alya, please." Marinette sounded genuinely concerned. Alya looked at her worried expression and sighed. "Okay, I won't."

"Promise?"

"I swear to you."

"Both hands where I can see them."

"Okay, okay, there, no tricks."

"Can you inform everyone on the Ladyblog?"

"Yes, I will do that right now."

Alya started making a post on her blog. Marinette started thinking. This was a concerning development. Why would this guy hunt the previously akumatized people? It made very little sense. It doesn't seem like he wants revenge, so what is his reason? At least now she and Chat Noir could narrow their searching field. This night they would have to give everything they've got in order to find this guy. Most of her friends have been akumatized in the past. They all were targets now.

The day seemed to drag. Marinette constantly looked at the windows and doors, waiting for that stranger to show up. He didn't. These akumas were really bad for her nerves. Finally the school day was over and the blue haired girl rushed out of the school.

She ran to her house, told her parents that she would be studying all evening and that she wouldn't want to be bothered and shut the hatch. She transformed and got back onto the roofs of Paris. "I can't allow this guy to hurt any more of my friends" muttered Marinette and begun her patrol.

It was getting close to midnight. Marinette was still patrolling the streets. She informed Chat Noir a few hours back. They met up a few times to report, but nothing seemed to happen. They were going from one of Marinette's classmate to another. They all were alright, even Chloe. That was rather unfortunate… no… she couldn't think like that.

Ladybug was seating on a rooftop across from Alya's apartment. The light in the living room were on. Cesire family was watching a movies, well, aside from the twins that were already asleep. Ladybug let out a groan and looked at the starry sky. This was getting the, nowhere, but it was the best strategy that she and Chat Noir had. Life seemed to get harder and harder for her. She closed her eyes for a moment to give them some rest. She allowed herself to relax, just for a moment… for a single moment.

Ladybug's eyes shut open as she heard screams. She looked down and her eyes widened in horror. They were coming from Alya's apartment, just as she feared. She swung herself forward, onto the balcony and dashed into the apartment.

The living room was a mess. Several pieces of furniture were broken, and there were some pieces of glass on the floor, seemingly from a vase of some sorts. Unconscious bodies of Alya's father, mother and sister were scattered on the floor. Only two people were standing. One was Alya. Ladybug could only see her bag, but she could tell that something was off about her. She was breathing heavily and she had this weird, orange, almost menacing glow around her.

The other standing human being was a man, however he wasn't the same as yesterday. He had a gauntlet on his left arm that was seemingly made out of stone. He was wearing a chest plate that seemingly had a spider-legs-like design. He also had a pair of armor-like boots that were glowing. His other arm was covered in a dark purple gauntlet that was glowing with pinkish light.

Once the man saw Ladybug, he dashed out of the apartment. "Get back here, you bastard!" yelled the dark skinned girl as she dashed after him, but Ladybug stopped her. "Alya, calm down, I'll…"

"Calm down? Calm down?! Look what he had done to my family!" said the girl through the greeted teeth. Ladybug was about to say something else when her gaze fell onto an open door that led into twin's room. Both girls were lying on the floor, unconscious. "My miraculous…"

"What?" asked the blue haired girl as she faced Alya again. "Give me, my miraculous!"

Meanwhile master Fu got woken up by some sound. He stood up. Something was tapping onto something. It was coming from his phonograph, where he kept the miraculouses. He went over to it and pressed the button to open the box. Something orange burst out of the box and flew out through a window. The old man looked inside the box. Fox miraculous was missing.


	5. Chapter 5

"Alya, listen, I get that you are upset, but I can't give you the mira…"

Something burst through the window. That something turned out to be Trixx holding her pendant. Alya took the miraculous and without a single word put it on. "Trixx, let's pounce."

The girl got transformed, closed the door and walked to the balcony. "Are you coming or what?" asked the girl. Ladybug swallowed. There was something in her gaze… She has never seen Alya like this before. She saw her angry and frustrated, but now, in this state of rage, Alya actually scared her.

Ladybug nodded and followed the girl. They hopped through the roofs and Alya seemed to know her exact destination. She looked quite confident when she moved. "Where are we going?"

"To get backup."

Finally Ladybug realized where they were going. The girl jumped onto another balcony and Rena banged the window. Zak showed up on the balcony.

The brown haired boy gave them a confused look. "What do I owe the honor?"

"We need you for the night." was Rena's short response. Her voice was cold, and it didn't go unnoticed by the boy. He raised an eyebrow and looked at Ladybug. "Please, we really need you tonight." said the blue haired heroine.

"Mom! Can I go for a walk with Rena Rogue and Ladybug?"

"Did you prepare for your test tomorrow?!"

"Yes!"

"Don't stay up too late honey!"

"Okay, lead the way" said the boy. A pair of greaves appeared on his legs and he followed the girls. They hopped through the roofs until Rena came to a sudden halt. She looked at the Ladybug with a look that made the heroine feel uncomfortable. "Where the hell is Chat?"

"He… well… he is…"

"Why isn't he here?! Aren't you two always around each other?!"

"We were patrolling at different part of the city…"

"He better be doing his job right now."

"Girls, can someone please explain what is happening?"

"We are looking for a guy."

"That's… very descriptive."

"He wears medieval armor, shouldn't be hard to spot. I have a score to settle with him."

Zak gave Ladybug another confused look. "He hurt someone close to Rena."

"Oh, okay."

Then Chat decided to show up. He landed on the roof right in between the girls. "Hello ladies. I see that you decided to join us again, right pretty face." said the boy as leaned into Rena Rogue. "Not now." said the girl, her voice dripping with ice. Chat jumped away from her. "We are looking for a guy wearing pieces of medieval armor." said Rena. "Let's split up, we can cover more territory like that" said the brown haired boy.

"What if we will need all of us to take him on?" asked Ladybug. She didn't know if this man was strong or not, but she didn't want to take a risks. She also didn't want to stay alone with Rena. Maybe it was cowardly of her, but she wanted to have at least someone when she would have to deal with and angry Alya.

"Well, you two usually deal with most akumatized villains. When either group finds the guy, they can send us a message. I'm pretty sure that is the best course of action." said Zak. Ladybug gave him a light glare. Damn it! He sounded pretty logical.

"Weeell, since everyone is quiet, I take it that everyone agrees with the plan. I'll go with my Lady" said Chat as he was about to dash toward Ladybug. Zak grabbed him by the collar. "No you won't. I will need a way to contact Ladybug. You two can contact each other right?"

"Yes."

"Well, I can't, so our choices are somewhat limited. Now let's go." said the brown haired boy as he dragged the blonde away.

Ladybug turned toward Rena. The girl was staring ahead, her anger still in place. "We'll find him" said the girl in red. "We sure as hell will" muttered the redhead. They began their search.

While the boys were jumping from one rooftop to another, Chat decided to ask the question that has been bugging him since their parting with the girls. "Hey, what's up with Rena?" asked the blonde. "Don't know really. Ladybug said that the guy we are searching for has hurt someone she cared about, a relative or a boyfriend I guess."

"I have never seen her like that."

"Well, you should understand the situation better, you knew her longer than me and besides, since you know her secret identity, then…"

"I don't."

"What?!" yelled the brown haired boy as he stopped dead in his tracks on a lamppost. "I don't know her secret identity."

"Ladybug?"

"No. The only one I know is Queen Bee – Chloe Bourgeois. Did you think that we know each other secret identities?"

"Well, yeah. You and Ladybug seem to work as a couple, so I thought that you must know each other in everyday life."

"No. I want to know and I want her to know who I am, but she says that it is too dangerous, and she is right. I have to constantly remind myself about that."

He said the last sentence in whisper. Zak didn't seem to hear it. "Where should we start?"

"Let's… I don't know. I don't even know how that guy looks like! We can go back to patrolling the streets. I doubt it would do much, but that is literally the best we can do."

"Alright then. Let's drop by my house."

"Why?"

"I need to fetch something."

"Fine, but be quick about it."

"Sure, try to keep up, cat." said the brown haired boy with a smirk. His boots crackled with lightning and he burst in the direction of his house. He was out of sight in a second. Chat Noir looked in the direction with a frown. "Show of!"

He followed his partner.

Lightning around Zak disappeared as he landed on his balcony. He quickly entered the house. His parents were still awake. "Back already, son?" asked Zak's father." I just need to fetch my skateboard. "Why?"

"We are patrolling the city. Some guy hurt a dear person of Rena Rogue and she is kind of pissed right now. I would have easier time on a skateboard."

"Grab sandwiches from the kitchen honey" said his mother. Zak grabbed his skateboard, ran to the kitchen, grabbed a few sandwiches and ran over to the living room to put them into his backpack. Swinging the backpack on, he kissed his mother on the cheek and ran out onto the balcony.

"Try not to stay up all night, honey. You have a test tomorrow!"

"I'll try, mom."

"And don't kick his ass too hard!"

"Okay, mom."

Once Zak was back on the balcony, Chat Noir was already there, waiting for him. The superhero was staring at the living room window with a strange gaze. "What is it?"

"Your parents seem to take this awfully casual."

"My dad was stuck in the Bermuda Triangle as well, so he is quite familiar with the whole adventuring stuff and my mom… she just… accepted the fact that weird, magical and dangerous won't leave our family alone."

"Seemed to do that rather quick."

"Maybe, but I did prove that I am more than capable of taking care of my supernatural problems."

"I won't lie, that looks weird, but strangely… comforting, I guess."

"Yeah, my parents are awesome."

"Aren't you afraid for them? You don't wear a mask. Everyone knows who you are. Villains may go after them."

"My father is still a pretty good fighter and my mom can get quite ferocious when she wants and I am always going to be strong enough to protect my loved ones."

"Someone is cocky."

Zak gave the blonde a serious look that was quite unpleasant. He said nothing, but that look did make Chat drop the subject. They dropped down onto the street. "Why did you take the skate? Aren't your lightning boots quicker?"

"Yes, but they consume large amounts of energy, so if we are going to be patrolling all night, I would like to keep the energy consumption to a minimum."

"Okay, I'll cover the roofs, you deal with the streets."

"Sounds like a plan for now."

Several hours have passed. Chat Noir and Zak were seating atop the Eifel Tower, munching on the sandwiches that Zak's mother gave her son. Sun already started to slowly rise and both boys were somewhat sleepy. They stopped by Zak's house a few more times during the night to get coffee, very, very strong coffee, but it had little effect. They both had little desire to continue, but they always managed to remind themselves that they were doing this for Rena and somehow that was enough to make them continue.

Currently they were staring at a large advertisement of a new clothes line with Adrien Agreste as a model. "That guy is in my class" said the brown haired boy. Chat raised an eyebrow at the sudden attempt to start a conversation. He turned towards his own image. "Do you think he is a good person?"

"Why are you interested?"

"I don't know. He is a city celebrity."

"He seems fine, a nice guy… boringly nice."

"Boringly?"

"Yeah. Maybe this is pirate inside of me talking, but somehow, he seems a bit…"

"Shallow?"

"… yeah, although that sounds kind of harsh. He is a good person, just… a little bit too good."

"Yeah, I get what you mean. Maybe he just hides his true self?"

"Why?"

"I don't know, maybe everyone expects him to be this golden buy when in reality he is a simple guy. Maybe all that he needs is a mask that would cover his personality, that would allow him to get rid of all of those expectations."

"What are you going to say next? That you are him?"

That phrase snapped Chat from his tired daze. He looked at the boy with wide eyes. Zak was still looking at the advertisement while chewing on his sandwich. Chat quickly turned away, trying to not look suspicious. "What?! No. I mean do I look anything like him?"

"I don't know."

The tone that Zak used to say that made Chat look at him once again. He sounded completely serious and the brown haired boy was currently staring at him. "Are you blind or something?"

"No. It's because of… you know what? Never mind, I'm tired of explaining this, so let's talk about it later, tomorrow, or in a day after I sleep through the next one."

"I don't know what you are talking about, but, sure, let's go back to our sandwiches."

As they were finishing their snack, the girls showed up. The jumped from one roof to another in their direction. Several minutes later there were four of them on the Eifel Tower. "Any success?"

"No" said Rena in a very grumpy voice. Zak opened his backpack and started searching through it for something. He let out a tired groan. "If you are going to wait here for about ten minutes, I will come back with sandwiches."

"Thanks Zak, but we managed to grab a snack." said Ladybug.

"Some fast food restaurant?" asked Chat, completely automatically. "No. I am know this girl, whose parents own a bakery. I asked her to make us something to chew on."

"Marinette?" asked the brown haired boy. "Yeah, her."

"Zak, have you checked on your classmates?" asked Rena. "Yeah, we did that just before coming here. They are fine."

"Where the hell is that guy?!"

"Hey, foxy, calm down, maybe he decided to lay low after your encounter with him."

That earned him a glare from the redhead. Zak stared back with a tired and blank expression. "I'm not stopping calling you that."

Rena let out a frustrated sigh. "I won't waste my energy answering that."

An awkward silence fell upon the group.

Slowly the sun was getting higher and higher. The super heroes made a few more circles around the city and met up several times already. City was slowly waking up. Zak was constantly looking at the clocks that he passed by from time to time. The four of them met up once again.

"Uh, guys, I need to go" said the brown haired boy. "Why?" asked Ladybug.

"I have my classes and more importantly I have a test today and my mother will kill me if I won't show up for it."

"Really, don't you think we have more important stuff to worry about?" asked Rena Rogue. "Listen, foxy, we can resume the search later. I really can't skip this test."

"Ugh, fine. Go, but you are coming back right after the school ends."

"Yes mam."

The brown haired boy rushed off to the school. "Uh, guys, don't you have school as well?" asked the blonde. "I'm not going" said the redhead. "Rena, we are getting nowhere here. Maybe we should rest for a bit." said the red superhero.

"You can rest, I will continue."

With that the fox-themed superhero jumped onto another room. Ladybug groaned and took her yo-yo to follow the girl. "Are you going with her?"

"Yes, I can't just leave her. Rest, Chat, we will need someone in a fighting shape to defeat this guy and I don't think that either one of us is."

"Whatever you say my Lady."

Chat hoped down onto the ground and hid in an alley. He detransformed and let out a large yawn. "It's about time that we got some sleep kid" said Plagg. Adrien looked at him and sighed. "No, Plagg. I also have that test Zak was talking about. I have to be at least there, or I might get in trouble."

"Geez, workaholic much, kid?"

"Shut up" said the blonde in a very tired voice and headed towards the school.


	6. Chapter 6

Meanwhile Zak was already at the school entrance. The test would start in about twenty minutes, so he could try to catch up onto those few minutes of sleep. He quietly made his way toward the gym dressing room and lied down onto one of the benches. He also set an alarm clock. It rang after what seemed like seconds. He looked at his phone. It was time to go. The brown haired boy groaned, stood up and went to the classroom.

He was walking quite slow, practically sleeping on his feet. Finally he was in front of the door that was leading into the required classroom. Zak opened the door and walked in. The classroom was awfully quiet. Zak looked around himself and his sleepiness seemed retreat for now. All of his classmates were unconscious. Some were lying on the floor, others on the desks. Zak ran over to Chloe and checked her pulse. She was breathing, so she wasn't in danger. That bastard was here!

"What the hell is going on here?"

Zak turned toward the door and found that Adrien was standing there with a shocked expression on his face. He immediately rushed over to his friend. Nino was his name? They quickly checked everyone in the room. No one seemed to be in critical condition. "Who's done this?"

"I've been on a patrol with Ladybug, looking for this guy that has been hunting down formerly akumatized people. Looks like he got here."

"Yeah, I've no…"

Adrien couldn't finish as Zak pulled him down behind one of the desks and pressed a finger to his lips in a hushing gesture. The blonde was about to ask, what's the deal, but he heard a noise. It took him a few seconds to understand what was it. It was clanking of a metal. The source of the sound seemed to make its way past the classroom.

Zak carefully crawled from behind the desk and stealthily made his way toward the door. He peeked from behind the door and his eyes got wide once he saw his opponent. It was a giant of a man, about three meters tall with wide back, wearing a helmet. He couldn't see much more since a red cloak was covering most of his back. He looked menacing. There was this aura around him that made Zak's hands tremble. He gathered them in fists. He couldn't fight this guy here, too much destruction, too many people. The man didn't seem to notice him as he slowly left the school grounds. Zak let out a breath that he didn't know he was holding.

"Is he gone?"

Zak jumped up in fear. "God, Blondie, don't scare me like that! You want me to have a heart attack." Said Zak as he clutched onto his rapidly beating heart. "Yes, he is gone. Let's go to the infirmary. There should be some smelling salts there. We need to get at least someone up before I can go after that guy."

The boy made their way to the infirmary. There they found the doctor in a very unusual state. He was stuck in a pose, as if someone froze him in place. There also was a purple glowing circle hovering in front of the man. It was covered with scriptures that somewhat resembled runes and if you would look long enough, you would see that the symbols in the center of the circle resembled a pause button. "What is this?" whispered Zak as he walked over to the man. "Don't touch that. When Alya was akumatized she used similar circles to trap people" said the blonde. Zak nodded and went over to the shelves with medicine. He managed to find the salts. The teens walked back to their class and started waking up their classmates. Zak started with Chloe.

He held the bottle near girl's nose. She stirred and her eyes fluttered open. "Zak…" said the girl in a gentle voice, one that Zak haven't heard from her before. However that wasn't for long as Chloe shot up, nearly hitting Zak on the head. "What happened to me?! There was this guy… he knocked me out! Once daddy will find out about this, he will pay for this!"

The brown haired boy chuckled. "I'm glad you're alright, Chlo. Here, help Adrien wake everyone up. I need to go after the bastard that did this to you."

Chloe nodded without understanding much. Her head was still fuzzy from fainting. Once Zak was at the door, she called out to him, "Zak…"

The boy turned around and raised an eyebrow. Chloe clutched onto her shoulder and refused to look him in the eye. "Don't get hurt." She said that almost in a whisper with the same gentle voice as moments ago. However Zak heard her. He gave her thumbs up. "Don't worry. I've seen worse."

Chloe smiled slightly, not her usual mean smile, but a genuine, good-natured smile. With that Zak ran out of the room and dashed out of the school. Chloe started waking people up. She stayed unusually quiet during the process. Once she got to Nathaniel, she came face to face with Adrien. She averted her gaze and put the salts near redhead's nose.

Adrien looked at her with a worried expression. She wasn't acting like herself. "Hey, Chloe, are you alright?"

"… No, I am not."

Adrien put a hand over her own. "That guy is gone. He left a while ago."

"Yeah, but he is still out there."

Adrien was really taken back by this. He had never seen Chloe so… depressed. He was used to her temper tantrums or whines, but not this. "Chloe, what's wrong?"

The blonde girl looked at her friend. Her expression was unreadable. "He didn't touch most of the class, well, he probably did, but only after they fainted." Chloe stopped as she looked around the classroom as people were starting to slowly stand up. "When he walked in, there was feeling, this air of fear around him. Most of us fainted simply from being in his presence. I kind of wished that I did to. He walked over to me, lifted me up by the arm and I felt like something was getting drained out of me. Combined with the fear I was feeling back then, I nearly threw up." Her hands were trembling now.

Adrien pulled her in for a hug. "Calm down, Chloe. You won't have to face him again."

"But Zak and Ladybug would have to. We need to warn them. They shouldn't face him alone."

Adrien looked at the girl in his arms. He wasn't sure if he ever saw so much emotion from Chloe. He tightened his grip around her. "Don't worry, they won't."

He waited until Chloe stopped trembling and let go. "I'll go and try to find Ladybug or Chat Noir. Will you be okay?"

"Yes, I will."

Adrien gave her one last hug and dashed out of the room.


	7. Chapter 7

Rena and Ladyug stopped atop of a building, to catch some breath. Rena walked awat from the Ladybug and leaned onto a chimney pipe. Red clad superhero walked over to her. "Hey, Rena, maybe we really should stop for today, or maybe just a few hours. We both are…"

"You know I was excited when this guy showed up."

"Uh?"

"I talked with my friend. I was looking forward to seeing you face off someone so unusual, so mysterious. Now he hurt my family and who knows how many other people. For the first time the danger feels real. All those times that people got akumatized, I never felt true danger, but not this time. Most of my family got akumatized, but they never got hurt. It's just…"

"Hey, this time won't be different" said Ladybug in a soft voice as she placed a hand onto Rena's shoulder. "We will make sure that he won't hurt anybody anymore."

Rena stayed silent with her head down. Then Ladybug's yo-yo started ringing. It was Chat Noir. "My lady, the guy we were searching for was in the school that Zak attends."

"What, did anyone get…"

"Yes! Most of his class got knocked out."

"Oh, my god, that's horrible."

"Yeah, that piece of crap just made this personal."

The wording somewhat shocked Ladybug. Chat Noir never swore. "He hurt a close friend of mine. He better be strong because he pissed off far too many superheroes today."

Chat hung up. Ladybug turned towards her friend. She was gone already. Rena was on another roof, heading in the direction of the school. Ladybug was about to call and stop her when both of them saw a fiery pillar. Girls gave each other quick glances and rushed in the direction of the pillar.


	8. Chapter 8

Chat found both Zak and the akumatized guy at Place Vendôme. Zak's pillar of flames was quite helpful in finding them. Finally the black suit superhero managed to get a good look at their opponent. It, indeed, was a knight. He was tall and wide, a real goliath. He had a red cloak with a crest that resembled and angel of some sort. His chest plate was black with quite a strange design. It was as if six spider legs were 'hugging' it. His greaves were silver in color, but seemed to have different gems encrusted into them. One bore purple gems while other had sky blue. His gauntlets were different. One of them seemed to be crudely made, almost as if made out of stone and pitch black in color. The other one was smaller, elegant and light purple in color with golden lines. His helmet had a shape of a monster or maybe a demon with fangs and horns. He was fighting Zak with a sword that was seemingly made out of gold and it seemed like the pirate boy had quite hard time keeping up.

Chat charged forward. He used his baton to hit the man on the back. It had little effect. The man stopped attacking Zak and turned toward the blonde. He looked at the boy. Chat swore that the man raised an eyebrow at him beneath that helmet. The next moment Chat had to jump away from a sword strike. Zak came back with a strike of an axe. The man was quick enough to block with his sword.

The boy were about to come in for another strike, when the man slammed his fist into the ground releasing a shockwave, knocking the teens away. The knight gripped the sword tighter. "Bear your claws, Bastet." The sword started glowing and changed his shape into a pair of claws attached to the gauntlets. "Damn" said the boys in unison. The man charged forward. His speed seemed to increase. Boy jumped away in opposite directions and attacked the knight. The man dodged Zak's axe and didn't seem to be bothered by Chat strikes. Zak created a pistol and made a few quick shots at the knight. He deflected the projectiles with his gauntlets. Then he punched Chat and sent him flying across the square.

Zak created his lightning greaves and was just in time to catch the blonde. "Okay that didn't go well."

"Oh really? I didn't notice that" said Chat as he rubbed his chest. "Hey, isn't he… bigger?"

Chat looked at their opponent. He indeed seemed larger. He let out a groan. "Stoneheart had and ability to grow larger and stronger as he gets hit."

"So we can't hit the bastard now?"

"We just have to take him down quickly."

"Yeah, seems easy enough" said Zak, sarcasm dripping from his mouth like poison. The knight turned his weapon back into a sword form. Then he pointed a jet black finger at the teens. His gauntlet changed into a black head of a dragon. The beast opened its mouth and flames erupted from it. Zak jumped in front of Chat and shielded himself with a pair of red gauntlets. The flames stopped. Zak smirked. However it quickly vanished as frost erupted from dragon's mouth. The brown haired boy cursed. He created a blue shield. "Quick, we need to find a cover."

"Don't you have frost immunity or something?"

"No!"

The teens ran towards the nearest car and hid behind it. Zak removed his shield, created his Blazz gauntlet and put it over his arm that was covered by a layer of ice. The frost breath engulfed the car and created a wall of ice all around the car and the building near it, trapping the boys in an ice cage. "Just great" muttered Chat. "It actually is. I needed a break."

"Dude, we are trapped behind a wall of ice."

"We'll melt it. Now wait until I finish warming up my arm. You can start melting the ice with this" said the brown haired boy as he created a fiery sword and tossed it towards Chat. The hero caught it and started making a passage for them. "When we get out, what do we do?"

"We continue fighting, what else is there left to do?"

"Easy for you to say, you can actually harm him."

"Can't you make your weapon heavier?"

"What?"

"Your baton. It's light, isn't it?"

"Yes."

"Make it heavy, use it like a quarterstaff."

"I can't make it heavier."

"Have you tried?"

"No."

"Then try, 'cause we are in a desperate need of an upgrade here."

"Yeah, no kidding."


	9. Chapter 9

The knight was creating a large fireball with his dragon arm. He will finish these two off with one hit. Just as he was about to throw the flaming sphere at the ice cage, a red object hit his arm and caused him to miss. The sphere hit a side of the cage, giving both boys an exit.

Ladybug and Rena were standing on a roof, staring at the armor clad man. They hopped down and prepared to fight the man.

"You hurt my family!" yelled the redhead and charged forward. Her flute started glowing and she hit the knight. He didn't move until the flute hit him on the chest and sparks flew from it. He seemed taken aback by it and immediately jumped away. Ladybug flung her yo-yo at him. It had similar effect to Rena's flute.

"Hey, they seem to do some damage" noted Zak. "Don't rub it in."

"Remember, heavier" said the brown haired boy as he patted the blonde on the shoulder and charged into battle. Chat hung his head. He looked at his weapon. He could extend it to various length, but he never thought about making it heavier. Well, he could only try now. He made it large enough to serve as a quarterstaff and focused on its weight. Heavier, heavier, HEAVIER!

Chat's eyes widened as his weapon nearly pulled him towards the ground. He smirked and joined his friends.

The knight was getting pushed back by the four heroes, but that triumph proved to be short lived. His arm turned into a dragon and created a line of fire between him and the teens. "You are strong, servants of the dark one" said the man.

The heroes looked at each other in confusion. "Uh, mate, we are the heroes here" said Zak. "No, no you are not. You are the servants of Satan, I can feel it."

The knight took off his helmet to reveal a blonde man. "I am Albert, paladin that vanquishes evil. I am here to vanquish you! Awaken, Anubis!"

His sword turned into golden shepherd's staff. He lightly hit the ground with it and slowly a hand appeared out of the ground. It was white and semi-transparent. Then another one appeared, and another until about a dozen of ghosts emerged from the ground.

Ladybug threw a yo-yo at one of them. It passed right through her. The ghost looked at the dark haired girl and with a scream flew in her direction. Ladybug tried to punch him, but her hand passed through him. Then the ghost passed through her. Ladybug dropped onto her knees. There was sharp pain in her chest, painful enough to make her fall. "We can't touch them" said the red-clad heroine.

The ghosts attacked the heroes, but before they could reach them, semi-transparent chains appeared around them. The miraculous holders followed the chains and found that all of them were coming from Zak. It looked like they were coming from inside of Zak's body. The brown haired boy grabbed all of the chains and used them to slam the ghosts into the ground. It did the job and the ghosts disappeared.

"Hmh, not bad. Looks like I need some help in defeating you."

The teens looked at each other in confusion. However the next moment they understood what he meant. The angel-shaped crest on his back came to life and literarily flew out of the cloak. Now it was hovering several feet above the ground, holding a fiery sword. Chat groaned. "Evilustrator's ability, of god damn course! Girls, take on the birdbrains, we will try to take this guy down" said the blonde as he gripped his weapon tighter. Ladybug gave him a long look, but eventually nodded.

Zak created a pair of daggers and both boys charged forward. Chat raised his staff and delivered a strike. The knight blocked it, however Zak was already past his defenses. He stabbed the man with both daggers. To his shock, they broke. Chat jumped away and delivered another strike, aiming for Albert's head. The knight dodged the strike. Zak created a pair of icy blue gauntlets and delivered a few quick strikes onto man's left arm. It got covered in a thick layer of ice. The increase of weight caused him to lose balance, which opened an opportunity for Chat to strike. He had a clear shot at his head. The blonde boy swung down.

Albert used his other hand to deflect the baton. A purple circle with a stylized 'pause' button appeared and Chat's weapon stuck in midair. He tried to pull it out, but to no use. The knight tore his hand out of its ice prison and tried to strike Zak. The boy jumped away from the strike. He gave the man an evaluating look. "Damn it, looks I will have to use that."

Zak slammed both of his hand onto the ground. "Open, the Eye of Beru!"


	10. Chapter 10

Ladybug and Rena Rogue attacked the angel with everything they could. Yo-yo got thrown and flute connected with the supposed celestial being. Ladybug threw her yo-yo at angel's head. The creature blocked it with its sword. Rena went into close combat and hit it with her glowing flute. Ladybug dashed forward, used Rena as a ramp and jumped high above the creature. She threw her weapon once again. The angel shielded itself with its wings. He red-clad hero used this opportunity to grab a hold of creature's wings and restrain them. The creature was wide open for a couple of seconds. She used her flute like a sword and stubbed the winged being.

The and let out a golden shockwave and the girls got thrown away. They quickly recovered. The angel raised his sword high above his head and brought it down releasing a flaming wave. The girls managed to jump away, although barely.

Ladybug threw her weapon into the air. "Lucky Charm!" Hearts spread from the yo-yo and the next moment a large red book with black dots fell into girl's arms. "What? A book, how can it help us?"

Ladybug opened the book to find a picture of a man wearing something that resembled wings with a sword in hands. There also was a page with text on an unknown language. "Ladybug, what is it?!"

"I… I don't know. I can't come up with anything!"

"Then let's try to do it this way…"

Rena put the flute to her lips and used her power. A glowing ball flew from the flute and created an illusion. A large dragon appeared. The creature turned toward the angel and breathed flame at it. The angel was unfazed. It didn't even try to dodge it. It was just an illusion, so no harm was done.

"Great! Does that thing know that it an illusion?"

"Well, that thing isn't alive, so maybe it is unaffected by things that affect senses."

"Awesome, what do we do now?!"

"Let's try surviving first, duck!" yelled the red-clad girl as she grabbed her friend and threw both of them onto the ground. A fiery wave passed right above their heads. When they looked up, suddenly, everything went blue.


	11. Chapter 11

The moment Zak slammed his hands onto the ground, blue glow spread from him and overwhelmed everyone.

Chat noir fell onto something hard. He shook his head and looked around. There was blue water all around him. He looked beneath himself and found wood. He was on a ship in a middle of nowhere. Rena Rogue and Ladybug were here too.

"Guys…" came the voice of the brown haired pirate. Chat turned around and saw Zak standing near the stirring wheel. "… please say hello to the only crewmate that I can still see, this is Chaos."

Chat looked around. "Where?"

"I think he is talking about the ship, kitty" said Ladybug. "Where is that guy?" asked Rena. The heroes looked at the sea. There wasn't anything except for the blue water. "Maybe he drowned? That armor looked pretty heavy" said the blonde. "We are not that lucky" said Zak as he put his camera over his eye. "Oh, yeah, there he is."

Just as Zak said that something burst out of the water. The knight was hovering in the air. His cloak was forming something that resembled wings.

"Chaos, all energy onto the cannon!"

A skull that was on the front of the ship opened its mouth revealing a cannon. "Fire!"

A beam of energy flew at the knight. It reached the target leaving a large cloud of smoke. Chat hung his head. "He will be alright once the smoke clears out, won't he?"

"Hey! Don't listen to him Chaos. He didn't get his good night sleep."

However as the smoke did clear out, the teens saw the angel hovering in front of the knight. Part of its body was missing and there was a glowing purple circle in front of Albert. "Damn it, you jinxed that!"

"Hey!"

Then the teens got engulfed in blue light and they were back on the same street of Paris. Albert was still hovering in the air. "You are strong. My daughter loves stories about knights and heroes. I will make her proud by rescuing her and for that to happen I must defeat you! Bath the world in your light Ra!"

Albert's staff turned into an arrow. He landed on top of a building. His cloak formed a red bow.

"Guys, get behind me!" yelled Zak as he created a red shield. The heroes got behind Zak as the knight pulled the string of his bow. The golden arrow caught on fire. Once fired, it turned into a beam of fire. It flew straight into Zak's shield, radiating immense heat.

The miraculous holder pressed themselves to Zak. It was hot, like, being stuck in an oven hot. However things that were around them were in much worse state. The pavement cracked and turned into ash, cars melted and there was a sound of windows popping. Finally the heat disappeared.

The result was almost comical actually. The teens were standing on a stone pillar, in the middle of a rather large hole. Zak's shield disappeared and the brown haired boy fell onto his knees. "Guys *pant* I'm all out of ammo."

"Then get to safety" said Ladybug. Chat helped him to get off the ground. He jumped onto one of the rooftops together with Zak. "Uh, Ladybug, we are kind of short on time here" said Rena as she pointed at her necklace. "Yeah, we are. Let's try to hold on until Chat comes back and then find a place to detransform."

"Yeah, sounds doable."

"Can't you make your voice less sarcastic, at least a tiny bit?"

"Uh, no" said the girl as she held her flute like a sword. A thin line of orange energy burst out of it. "Whoa, that's something new."

"Let's hope it's strong. Let's go."

The girls charged into battle.

Meanwhile Chat, together with Zak, got onto a rooftop. "So what do you need to eat to recharge."

"What are you talking about?"

"Don't you restore energy by eating?"

"No! Well, yeah, somewhat, but it mostly regenerates over time."

"How long, ten or twenty minutes or something?"

"Considering how much I used today, a day or maybe two!"

"What?!"

"Dude, I just held down an arrow that melted the frigging square AFTER opening an eye of The Seven Seas! I've never spent this much magic before. I didn't even know I could do this much in a single day, so I am out of the game for a while now. This is up to you guys now."

"Damn it. Okay, rest up, we will take care of this guy" with that Chat Noir hopped back into battle.


	12. Chapter 12

Things weren't going well for the female heroes. Extended range of Rena's flute proved to be useful, however her non-existent swordsmanship skills, not so much. Their lack of sleep wasn't helping and their miraculossess were about to run out of energy anytime now. The knight didn't show any signs of fatigue or exhaustion. If anything, his strikes seemed to get stronger with each hit.

"Hey, girls, need some help?"

Chat Noir hit the knight with his baton as he landed, delivering several more strikes and then jumping away. Suddenly he heard faint beeping. He looked at the girls. They were about to detransform. "Girl's, go an find a place where you can replenish your energy safely. I will try to hold this guy down."

"Chat, no. You can't take him on alone."

"If you turn back right now, it won't be much different than fighting him alone, so go!"

Ladybug gave him a concerned glance, forced herself to turn away and jumped onto one of the rooftops, closely followed by Rena Rogue.

"Now there are only the two of us."

"You think you can take me on alone?"

"No, but if they stay here, they will get hurt."

"That's… admirable."

Chat took several steps to the side. Albert did the same, so the two ended up slowly walking in a circle. "So you daughter likes stories, which ones?"

"I told you already, those about the heroes of legend."

"Yeah, I got that. Which she prefers , Arthurian legends or the cycle about paladins of Charlemagne?"

The question seemed to catch the knight off guard. He stiffened for a moment. "She prefers the stories about the paladins. She once did a research on our family tree and discovered that we might be related to some of them?"

"Really? Which one?"

"We are not sure. I am not even sure that he was a paladin, but she was so happy that I couldn't say that. However who knows, maybe she is right."

"Well, your power is more convincing than that story, but alright" said the blonde with a smile. Who knew that he could distract him so easily? The girls should be back here any moment now.


	13. Chapter 13

Meanwhile the girls hid from each other behind a chimney. "I don't know whether Trixx will like these, but here."

Ladybug passed a macaroon to Alya, being careful to not reveal herself. "Hey, these are macaroons from Dupain-Cheng bakery."

"Oh, yeah. I… I buy them each morning. Tikki absolutely adores them."

Marinette gave her kwami the treat. "Tikki, you said that paladins possessed incredible powers back in the day. Is he, you know, a paladin or maybe his descendant?"

"No, he is just an akumatized man, but his ancestor was string although he wasn't a paladin."

"And how do we defeat someone like that?" said the girl as she hit the rooftop with her fist. Tikki looked at her partner with concern. "There is a way. It is something that we shouldn't use without training, but there isn't much of a choice."

"What are you talking about."

Tikki let out a sigh, she looked past Marinette, at Trixx. "You think what I'm thinking?"

"Yeah, probably."

"Okay listen Maaa… my dear partner" said the red kwami with a sheepish smile. She nearly gave away Marinette's identity. "This time instead of saying 'Spots on' say 'Brandish your sword'"

"What?"

"Just do it, you'll see the result. Now we really must get back. Chat Noir is all alone out there."

"Okay. Tikki, brandish your sword." Just as Marinette was saying this she heard Alya shouting. "Trixx, spread your tails."

The transformation began, but once it was over, Marinette found herself in a rather unexpected attire. She was wearing medieval armor. Ladybug color scheme obviously. Her hands were covered by a pair of gauntlets, her legs were clad in red metal and she even had chainmail beneath all of that. There was a sword on her hip. She drew the blade. The hilt was black while the blade itself was red. She stepped out from behind her hiding spot. "Alya, look what hap…"

Ladybug turned around to look at her friend, but was surprised to find that Alya changed attire as well. She was wearing Asian kimono, orange in color. Now her mask seemed to consist out of orange fire, becoming white closer to the corners of her eyes. It didn't seem to bother the girl, so Ladybug assumed that it didn't burn. However the most stunning detail were fluffy looking tails behind the dark skinned girl. The fur was white, turning orange at the tips. They were gently swaying in almost mesmerizing fashion.

Ladybug's jaw dropped. "Are those, like, real?" asked the armor clad girl as she pointed a finger at the tails. Alya looked at the new addition to her body. "Yeah, they are. To be honest it kind of feels weird to have a tail, let alone nine of them, but that's the least of our troubles."

"Yeah, Chat Noir really needs us right now. Let's go."


	14. Chapter 14

To be perfectly honest things could've been much worse for the cat themed hero. Albert seemed more than willing to talk about history and myths. The blonde threw in a few questions and his opponent seemed to lose himself in his long answers. They traded a few blows, but nothing serious.

"… and I believe that it was the last adventure of Astolfo."

Just as he finished the last sentence, an orange fireball hit him. The knight didn't seem to be bothered by that. Two figures landed in front of Chat Noir. Two figures that made his eyes go wide. For a second there he thought that Zak was the one that threw the fireball, but that idea was wrong. His friends were standing in front of him, but they costumes were drastically different. Ladybug was wearing medieval armor while Rena Rogue seemed to turn into a kitsune. That definitely wasn't something he saw every day.

"Well finally. Your friend was starting to run out of questions."

Chat Noir shot his opponent a confused stare. "Yes, I knew you were buying time. You could've died if you fought me alone. You earned my respect, Black Cat. I didn't want to kill you with such hopeless odds. Now, when there are three of you, I can call this a fair fight. Attack!"

Ladybug didn't have to be told twice. She charged forward with sword drawn. Albert lifted his sword for a block. Ladybug shifted the grip on her blade and before her sword connected with the golden blade, she thrust forward. The sword tip went in the direction of knight's head. He dodged it. They backed away from each other. Ladybug looked at her sword with surprise. She was acting purely on instinct, but it felt like… not her instinct if that made sense.

Rena levitated high above the ground. Orange flames flew out of her tails and then got shot at the armored man. Purple 'Pause' symbol appeared in front of him, creating a shield. Surprisingly flames penetrated it and Albert had to shield himself with his arms. He seemed fine, of course he was.

"Whoa, my lady, got a power up?"

"Yeah, don't go lagging behind, kitty."

Ladybug charged forward unleashing a flurry of strikes. It felt… so natural. The sword was like an extension of her body. It was… strange. She had a rough guess about where these skills were coming from, but now wasn't the time to think about it.

Albert blocked every strike, but he didn't seem to have easiest time doing it. However he only used his sword, so Ladybug couldn't relax. Rena Rogue was sending fireballs at the knight. Some of them hit the mark, others didn't, but even those that did made little difference. The armor was too strong.

Albert's arm turned into a dragon and created a wall of fire to separate him from Ladybug. "You seem to have gotten stronger. Maybe I will need to be at full strength in order to defeat you."

The man put on his helmet and the teens felt a wave of fear wash over them. It came out of nowhere and the fear mixed with confusion. "It's probably Horrificator's power" said Chat Noir.

"You are a smart boy. Now, let's resume our battle."

With those words lightning erupted from knight's feet coating his body in a cloak of electricity. "Ladybug, don't get near him. You are covered in metal" said Rena. Ladybug jumped as far away as she could from the man.

Rena raised her hands up. "Mirage!" However the usual illusion didn't appear. Flame from Rena's tail flew up and formed a large fiery fox. It looked at the knight from above and then dived down, right on top of the armored man. Unbearable heat overtook the square. Chat Noir had to jump away in order to get away from the heat. However Ladybug didn't seem to be bothered by it.

The fire died down, revealing the knight surrounded by a purple shield. "Don't give him an opportunity to attack. Lucky Charm!"

Red ladybugs erupted from Marinette's sword. They flew up in a large flock slowly revealing… a dragon?! A red dragon emerged from the cloud of ladybugs, spreading black bat-like wings.

Its scales were red, turning black to the end of his tail. It descended onto the ground in between the superheroes and the villain. It dived down, trying to bite the man. Albert seemingly disappeared and then appeared in the air near dragon's head. He punched dragon's jaw, sending it a few meters to the side. The winged creature quickly recovered and used its wing in order to slam the knight into the ground. It didn't work. Albert was too fast.

"Okay. What the hell is that?! It's on our side, so I don't mind, but, still… What the hell is that?!" yelled Chat Noir. "I don't know, now let me think…"

Albert seemed to be focused on the dragon, however the creature was having a hard time. They had to help, somehow. How can you help a giant fire breathing... Wait, why wasn't it breathing fire? Could it be that this dragon… tried to not cause much damage? … okay that was a weird thought… but maybe.

"Guys, let's try to get Albert higher into the air!"

"What? How?"

"Rena, cover the ground with your flames."

"On it." Fireballs flew out of Alya's tail and started bombarding the ground. Albert's cloak formed a pair of wings and he flew up. The dragon attacked him in midair. Albert dodged the strike and continued his assault on the dragon… That was a very strange wording if you think about it. At some point Albert flew straight above dragon. He created his arrow once again, ready to fire.

The next moment he disappeared inside dragon's maw. The teens went quiet for a second. Albert was gone…

That dragon exploded the next moment leaving only red ladybugs behind. Albert was hovering in the air. His armor was destroyed in several places and he had a few injuries. The knight put his arm beneath his chest plate and retrieved an amulet or something like that. He crushed it.

A circle that was resembling a clock appeared around him. After a flash he was completely fine…

Chat grabbed his baton and his himself on the head several times with it. The girls gave him looks of both worry and confusion. "Well, girls, since we are going to die anyway, can I kiss you farewell?"

"What? Both? Aren't you getting a little greedy there, kitten?" yelled Rena. "Hey, I don't want to die without kissing a girl!"

"No one is dying today, kitty."

Albert was already drawing his bow to take another, presumably last, shot. "Ahhh, Damn it!" Ladybug threw her sword at Albert. He dodged the weapon, but had to fly in another direction immediately as a fireball flew at him. The next moment he felt someone's grasp on his arrow, while holding onto his staff that helped him get this high with the other. Chat Noir's hand was firmly clutched around Albert's arrow. Black bubbles were surrounding his hand. The arrow got covered in rust and crumbled to dust.

Albert grabbed the blonde by his arm and held him in the air. He let out a chuckle. "I hoped you would find a way to survive that one. However it's clearly not enough to defeat me."

With that Albert threw the teen to the ground. He got caught by Rena Rogue. The knight descended onto the ground. He started slowly walking in the direction of the teens. Lightning erupted from his greaves, coating him in electricity. He was obviously showing off now, but he certainly could afford it. Ladybug and Rena were about to transform back and Chat was out of Cataclysms. They were done for.


	15. Chapter 15

A tin can came flying at the knight. Albert looked at whoever dared to do it. Sure enough it was Zak. He was sliding down the hill into the hole that Albert created not so long ago. The brown haired boy was walking towards the knight. He was tired. You could see that from a simple look. "Guys, get out of here. I will deal with this guy."

Chat gave him a long stare. "Okay, he's gone crazy, great."

"Hey!"

"How are you going to deal with him?! You barely have enough strength to stand!"

"Okay, maybe 'deal' is a bit tough of a word. I'll hold him back, so that you guys can retreat. I'll catch up to you as soon as possible. Here, look." Zak created his cutlass and swung it a couple of times.

"… fine."

"You know I can hear you" said the knight. "Yeah, but it won't help you. They will escape."

"Big talk."

"Girls, let's go." Said Chat Noir. "But kitty…"

"I said, let's go." There was harshness in his tone, something she never heard from him, especially directed at her. The girls nodded. Rena grabbed Ladybug and they flew up.

Albert pointed his finger at the girls and lightning flew from his fingers. It got intercepted by a rock thrown by Zak. "Looks like you managed to restore some stamina, pirate demon."

"Pirate demon. That has a nice ring to it, but I'll pass on that nickname. You are not getting past me."

Chat Noir was already out of eyesight. "They were quick to escape, huh."

"They will regroup and try to defeat you again."

"I certainly hope that would happen. However I would be concerned with your own life if I were you. You have no magic left inside of you."

"Oh, really?" Zak threw his blade at the knight. It vanished a few milliseconds after it left Zak's hand. "See."

Zak fell onto his knee, panting. Yes, all of that was an act. He barely managed to scrape enough magic to manifest his sword, but now he was all out of… everything really: no magic, no stamina and no plan of escape.

Albert approached the boy, towering over him like a mountain of metal. He looked at the boy beneath him and with one swing of his arm, knocked him out.


	16. Chapter 16

Zak found himself floating in a void. There was nothing around him, only darkness. He remembered that Albert was towering over him moments ago, then pain in the head and then he was here. The brown haired boy was pretty sure that most people don't see something like this when they fall unconscious, but then again he wasn't losing consciousness all that often.

He didn't feel any worry. He somehow knew that this wasn't afterlife. However the fact that he was fine with all of this was kind of weird. Zak looked around once again, nothing, only endless darkness. "Hello, is there someone here! Anyone!"

Silence…

"Well you finally managed to get here."

Zak turned around, trying to pinpoint the source of this voice. It was deep, ominous even and there wasn't anyone around the boy. "Who's there? Who are you?"

"Who am I, well, take a look."

The air around Zak became heavy, as if the surrounding darkness was trying to squash him. Then, someone appeared in this void. The person, or rather the form that the voice took caused Zak to raise an eyebrow in confusion.

Zak was staring at himself. Or rather something that looked very similar to himself. The creature, or whatever it was bared a striking resemblance, however there were a few differences. This… Fake Zak was pale, like a ghost with black veins covering his face. His eyes were different as well, dark purple with no irises.

"I am you, Cornard Zachary Storm."

Zak cocked a head to the side, "No you're not."

Fake Zak flew behind the boy, whispering into his ear, "Oh, but I am."

"Nope, ain't falling for that trick."

"I am the dark side of you."

"Pretty sure that my dark side tries to steal mom's cookies and cheat in card games, so no, you are not it."

Fake Zak looked annoyed. "Fine. You didn't fall for this." The pale version of Zak vanished in a puff of dark smoke. Smoke started spreading, forming a giant cloud. What emerged from it did shock the pirate-boy.

It took a form of an average sized man. He was wearing black chest plate. His legs were hiding behind black cloth that was going around his waist. His hands were clad in black leather gloves with clawed fingers. There was something that resembled shepherd's staff on his back. You couldn't see the face of the man since it was hidden beneath dark grey hood.

"Waaait a second. I think I know you. I saw something similar to you on one of the walls in Bermuda Triangle."

"Yes, you have a good memory, but do you remember what that painting was depicting?"

Zak's face became serious. "The battle between seven demons and the birth of Bermuda Triangle."

"Now, do you understand who I am?" asked the creature as he spread his arms as if showcasing himself fully. "Now, do you know my name, child?"

"Erebus."

The demon started laughing. "Yes! You are a smart one, I like that!"

"No, I'm really not. I don't know why are you here, in… in my head I guess."

"Oh, take a wild guess, child."

"… You want to take over my body?"

Demon started laughing. "Yes, I am not that original, right? Now, how about I take over that fight of yours."

"What?! No! Argh…" Zak got enveloped in sticky darkness that started spreading over his body, rendering him motionless. "Don't worry, I will take care of our body."

Zak tried to break out, but to no use, he was trapped. The black substance crept over his face and finally obscured his view completely.

Albert was towering over boy's frame. Electricity was bouncing off of his gauntlet. Lightning intensified as Albert brought his hand down, sending an electric current down onto the boy.

…

…

Albert felt something hitting his right side and he was sent flying. The knight hit a wall of the chasm. It didn't hurt much, but the fact that there was someone that managed to send him flying with one hit was… interesting to say the least. The man looked at whoever dared to attack him out of nowhere.

He expected Ladybug or Chat Noir, but the person who did it caused his eyes to go wide for a brief second. It was Zak. However it wasn't the boy himself that surprised him. Yes, the fact that he somehow managed to escape the final lightning strike was surprising, but somehow expectable. Boy's appearance was the main reason for Albert's surprise.

The boy was crouched, his skin seemed much paler than usual. Black veins were covering his face like a web. His eyes were black, completely black. There were no pupils, just… darkness. To finish the crazy get up his tongue turned long and thin, demonic as he had it stuck out dancing around a blade of his sword.

"May I ask you, what are you?" asked the knight. Zak smirked. "Oh, don't you know? You've mentioned my kind during the battle."

"You are a demon."

"Bingo."

"Well, too bad for you. I, as an ancestor of a pala…"

"Whoa, whoa, stop right there. Hate to break it up to ya, but your ancestor wasn't a paladin. He was the one who forged Durendal, Wayland the Smith."

"…"

Albert remained silent. "Okay, you will have an opportunity to brood later, let's get back to fight." Albert launched a lightning bolt at the boy. Zak drew his hand back and a black portal appeared in front of it. He dipped his hand inside the darkness. Just as the lightning was getting closer to him he snatched something out of the portal and swung it in front of himself.

The electricity hit a barrier made out of metal with a silver hue. Zak smirked as he swung the item over his shoulder. It was cloak made out of metallic plates. "The boy really doesn't understand the full extent of his powers. He not only absorbed the powers of his crew. The Triangle is literally linked to him and he has access to certain items that are stored within. Like this cloak for example."

Zak swung the cloak again and the plates separated, flying at the knight like darts. Albert shielded his head with his arms, but the plates still managed to make a few cracks in his armor. The next moment Albert felt a punch in his gut, followed by another one to his ribs. The second strike sent him flying once again.

"How?! He was out of magic!" shouted the knight as he got up. "Oh, magic is an interesting thing. Through certain exploits, you can get almost endless amounts of it, but humans don't know about those."

Albert's arm turned into a dragon. It breathed a torrent of fire, but it didn't achieve much. Red gauntlet's appeared on Zak's arm and he simply walked through the fire unscratched. Suddenly fire turned into a snowstorm. The boy created a light blue shield and the frost left him unharmed.

Albert was getting desperate and worse of all, he was getting scared. This boy was giving him hard time before, but now, he seemed to jump onto a whole other level. He collected so much power and yet this child was still overpowering him… No! He won't be defeated here. Albert slammed his right hand onto the ground. Think purple line drew a large square on the ground. The knight sank his fingers into the ground and with a groan flipped a large piece of the land into the air together with Zak. His cloak formed a pair of wings and his left arm turned into a dragon. He lunged forward.

Yes, the boy was at his mercy. Dragon's maw opened and it was ready to take a bit out of the pirate… Zak grabbed the dragon's neck, flung himself over it and wrapped his legs around Albert's neck. The boy did a flip and the knight was beneath him. Zak conjured a pair of fireballs and threw them at the man, sending him flying to the ground.

Then six shurikens appeared in his hands, three in each. They were different in color, each seemed to represent a sea of the Bermuda Triangle. He threw them at the knight that was already on the ground. The projectiles flew in an arc leaving colored traces behind. Just a moment before reaching the target, each shuriken turned into a large skull with gapping mouse. They exploded upon contact. Zak created another shuriken and threw it at the center of explosion. The projectile spun faster and faster resembling a buzz saw. It cut through the smoke while the brown haired boy landed onto the ground.

Albert dashed into the sky. He withstood the strikes, but he had to run away. Then something yanked him down. The man looked at his feet and saw a transparent chain attached to his ankle. His arm turned into a dragon and bit off the binding. However two more chains came out of Zak's body and held the knight down. They got covered in dark purple smoke. Albert tried to get rid of them, but they seemed to become unbreakable. The knight was getting pulled down to the ground. He was frantically trying to get out of the grasp, but it was to no use.

Zak grabbed his chains and used them to slam the knight into the ground.

The fight was over.


	17. Chapter 17

Zak slowly walked over to the knight. Albert was lying on the ground, out of strength to do anything. Zak, or rather, the demon put a foot onto his chest. "Well, well, well, look who lost."

"Get it over with already."

"You mean kill you. Do you think I am a barbarian or something? Wait, I need to take care of something first."

The boy found Albert's cross, yanked it off his neck and crushed it. A black butterfly flew out of it. A black tentacle came out of Zak's arm and grabbed a hold of the bug. The creature squirmed trying to get out, but over a second, it was already dead. Several dark droplets flew out of the butterfly and flew into the boy. He let out an annoyed groan.

"That was unpleasant, now, onto the topic."

Albert reverted back to his normal form. "You know, it is difficult to find any good smiths in this age. We used to have dwarves back in my day, but alas, those fellas are gone now. However there are a few families among humans that can produce some… interesting results."

"What are you blabbering about?"

"Oh, yes, forgive me. Let us cut to the deal. I need a weapon, a weapon worthy of me."

"You can create weapons, why would you need something made by a human?"

"Oh, these?" said the boy as he extended his hand and a sword appeared in it. "These things are only so good. Using them is kind of like trying to use a blade that is completely hollow on the inside. They are good because of the versatility that they provide, but in order to unleash my full power, I would need a weapon, something that could vessel all of my powers. It must be… special."

"Why do you think that I would be able to do it and why would I do it in the first place?"

Zak put a finger to his chin. "Okay, let us change the scenery."

The demon grabbed the man by the collar and jumped high into the sky. He quickly moved over the roofs of Paris until they reached a hospital. Zak stopped in front of a specific window. Albert's eyes widened at the location that demon chose. Shadow tentacles slipped in the gaps of the window and opened it. They jumped inside the hospital room.

They were in the room of Albert's daughter. Zak walked over to the unconscious girl. "Such a poor child. Too bad that this medicine won't be able to help her."

Albert stayed quiet. Zak turned to him and gave him a crooked smirk. "You want to say that you can help her?"

"Oh, yes. I can, if you make something that satisfies my needs."

"I've never made weapons, and I've never made weapons, especially magical. And I don't even have resources!"

"Shhh, quiet. We don't want the doctors to hear us, do we? I will provide you with the materials."

A portal appeared behind Zak and the boy retrieved something from it. It turned out to be a toy canoe. It had several miniature items in it. "It's a Canoe of Gluskap. One of the greatest treasure that found their way into the Bermuda Triangle. There are all resources that you might need… Don't look at me like that, I'm not crazy. Place it on the ground and say this."

Zak conjured his fiery gauntlet. His sharp finger caught on fire and then the fire died down, leaving the clawed finger black. He went over to the man. "Wait, wait, what do you want to do?"

"I want to write the spell on your shirt. I can't say it out loud or the boat would grow big right here right now."

"Wait" Albert fetched a phone out of his pocket and handed it over to Zak. "Write it there."

"Oh, handy."

Zak quickly typed the spell and gave the phone back to the man. "So, do we have a deal?"

Albert looked at his daughter lying on the hospital bed. "You will help her."

"Only if you manage to satisfy my needs. Don't worry, I believe in you. Now go, before I came up with more conditions for our deal."

Albert gave Zak one last glare and left the hospital room. He just hoped that there wouldn't be any passersby that would question how he got there.

Demon Zak chuckled to himself and stretched his muscles. "Oh, having a body feels so nice."

The girl let out a whimper. This turned demon's attention. Girl's heart rate seemed to start slowly increasing until the girl started tossing, seemingly in pain. Zak walked over to her and placed a hand onto her forehead. Black energy surrounded his hand and black veins traveled from his palm all the way to his face.

The girl seemed to calm down as her heart rate stabilized. "There, there. You will be alright. Just have faith in your daddy and this demon would do the rest."

The girl seemed to go back to her normal, unconscious self. The demon removed his hand from the girl and shook it in order to get rid of the unpleasant feeling. With that he left the room through the window.

The demon traveled all the way back to the roof of Zak's house. "Well, it's been a blast, but *yawn* it's time to go get some rest. Hey, kiddo, the body is yours for now."

With that Zak's skin and eyes turned back to normal. As soon as he regained the control over his body, he fell onto the ground, out of stamina. He could barely move a muscle that, by the way, were on fire. "Well that wasn't a fun ride" mumbled the boy as he drifted off to sleep.

When he opened his eyes, the boy saw the ceiling of his aunt's room. He got up and immediately felt the aftermath of battle. He barely had enough strength to move. "Honey, are you awake?" came the voice of Zak's mom. She walked into the room and sat on the bed beside her son. "How are you feeling?"

"Mostly tired. Reaaaaally tired." The woman chuckled. "I've told the principal that you will be absent."

"Awww, thanks mom. How long have I been asleep."

"Well… not too long I guess… 27 hours."

"What?!"

The woman chuckled once again. "You gave all of us a spook, but considering what you've done, long rest is expected. Are you hungry?"

"Yes! Starving actually."

"Stay in bed, I'll bring you something to eat."

"Thanks mom, love you."

"Aww, I love you to honey."

With that Zak's mom left the room. The boy slammed back onto the bed. He lifted his arm and tried to conjure something. Magic sparks flew off his fingers, but nothing else happened. His magic has been drained. "Hey, big scary and ugly, are you there?"

Silence.

The demon seemed to be gone, or maybe asleep, or he was just ignoring him. Zak was sure that the guy didn't disappear, but the fact that he appeared was concerning. He had to deal with this guy. The question was – how would he do it? Well, he could think about it later. Right now he simply wanted to rest.


	18. Chapter 18

Adrien entered the classroom. He had Mrs. Storm's class now. She was already in the classroom. He took a step in her direction, then stopped. He looked at her, than at Zak's seat. Almost two days have passed and the boy was yet to appear in class. Adrien had to catch on his sleep for a day, so he thought that once he came back, Zak would already be back in class. Should he ask about him? He, as Adrien, hasn't been all that close to him. Would it look weird if he did?

Someone stormed past the blonde, bumping him on the shoulder. He caught a glance of golden hair as Chloe stormed towards Zak's mom. "Mrs. Storm, is he alright?"

"I'm sorry miss Bourgeois, I don't understand who you are talking about" said the woman with a smug grin on her face."

"Zak! Is he alright?!"

The teacher chuckled. "Calm down Chloe, he is fine. He just needs some time to rest. Very sweet of you to worry about him."

"What? I… I… I wasn't worried. He… he promised to help me with… err… a project I've been working on, that's it. He should know that he really let me down" said the girl with a huff and a blush on her cheeks. With that she went to her seat.

Mrs. Storm giggled. "She's kind of cute when she is like that, isn't she?" said the woman as she looked at Adrien with a smile. "Did you want something, Mr. Agreste?"

"Oh, I… no, nothing." Said the boy as he walked past teacher's desk, but came to a stop. "Is he really alright?"

"Yeah, he's just really tired. He slept over a day and now he is regaining his strength. He also said that he needs to restore his magic since it drained in the last confrontation and considering the amount of supervillians that attack the city, he decided that he needs to regain his strength as soon as possible… I can't believe that I said that with a serious face. Please sit down Adrien, the class would start soon."

"Sure thing, Mrs. Storm."

Adrien walked to his usual seat, but stopped to look at Chloe. Sabrina was still sick, so she was sitting alone once again. The blonde sighed and walked over to the blonde girl. "Mind if I sit here today?"

Chloe gave him a skeptical look. "That's Zak's place?"

"What, am I not good enough to sit with you?" asked the boy with a grin. Chloe gave him another look, crossed her arms, stuck up her nose and said: "No."

"What?! Hey." Adrien dropped his bag and playfully poked the girl in the stomach. She poked back. The exchanged a few more pokes until they stopped and started laughing. "Okay, you may sit with me."

"Oh, thank you for your kindness, my queen."

"You welcome, my measly servant."

Soon enough the class started. He would have to explain to Nino why he ditched him today, but he would understand.

Adrien had to admit that it felt somewhat weird not to have Chloe trying to hang herself on him or calling him by that silly pet name, somewhat refreshing, but still weird. However the phrase that Chloe said to him earlier did cause the boy to think about something that had been plaguing his thoughts recently. He wasn't good enough. Sure, Chloe didn't mean it seriously, he knew she didn't, but it was true. He wasn't strong enough to defeat that guy. What if someone like him appears again, what if Zak alone won't have enough strength to achieve victory?

Those thoughts occupied his mind even during his fencing lessons which caused him to perform badly, which didn't go unnoticed by his teacher. After another loss on Adrien's side, his teacher removed his mask. "Adrien, is something on your mind? You are awfully distracted today."

"Mr. Armand, how good am I at fencing?"

"You are pretty good, my boy. Why do you ask?"

"I just… I just thought if, for example, someone attacks a person that is dear to me, would I be able to protect them?"

"Using fencing, my boy?"

"Yes."

"Well the short answer would be, no. If you want to protect yourself from street thugs, you might want to join some self-defense club."

"What about dangers… other from thugs."

"For example?"

"Well, what about, you know, supervillains."

"Adrien, my boy, you don't plan to go supervillain hunting do you? That would be very reckless of you."

"What, no! I just thought that in case someone attacks, it would be nice to be able to protect people that are dear to me, without the need to rely on Ladybug and Chat Noir."

"Hm, I see. I'll give you a phone number of a man. He is a part of FFHEMA."

"What?"

"It means French Federation for Historical European Martial Arts. They are practicing sworsmanship that might be more useful than sport fencing in actual battle. He's a nice guy, so don't worry."

"Okay, thank you very much Mr. Armand."

"Your welcome, my boy, just don't do anything reckless."

"I won't."

The man gave Adrien a visiting card and they ended their lesson. The boy walked out of the building while holding the card with the phone number. "I will become stronger. No one would harm my loved ones.


End file.
